Age Means Wisdom Right?
by Devil Snake Boy
Summary: He finally beat the devil. He finally won. But he didn't truly win did he? Not when he lost everything in the process. The devil asked for death and he was more than happy to oblige it, to make it pay for taking everything away from him. Before he could finish the job, an idea came to him. He would fix this, fix everything. Even if it meant blackmailing the devil himself.
1. Going Back

**So no doubt you all have questions. Some of you are wondering why I am posting a new story, some of you are worried if I am abandoning my other story, and some are wondering what this story is about.**

**To answer why I posted this, it's to actually give you something. My workload tripled this semester of college. I usually have seven weekly assignments, on top of any projects, essays, and test that are coming up. I've managed to work on the first story a little bit, but not much.**

**To answer if I am abandoning my other story, I promise you I am not. I had this idea in my head for a long time and I finally got fed up and wrote it a few months ago. Since I already had it written, I figured I would post it and it's other chapters for now, at least until I have time to work on my first story.**

**As for what this story is about, it's another time travel story but this has nothing to do with the other story and Zeref's attack during the Grand Magic Games. That didn't happen in this story, in fact everything is canon until the final arc. That's all I am going to say about it, I want you to find out the rest by reading on.**

**I'm not saying that you don't have to read it if you don't want to, but I just wanted to give you guys something while I am swarmed with schoolwork. I'll post a new chapter for this story each month, and I have seven chapters already written so it should last to the end of the semester.**

**Anyhow, I hope you enjoy, and thank you for being so patient with me.**

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**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail doesn't belong to me, it's owned by Hiro Mashima. If I did, Lucy and Natsu would be an actual couple… and Erza and Jellal… and Gajeel and Levy… and Gray and Juvia. Okay basically everyone, you guys get my point.**

It was a dark and stormy night. Lightning flashed across the sky and thunder made the clouds quiver with excitement, but the rain refused to fall. Maybe it was because the gods were feeling merciful, or perhaps they were simply afraid of disturbing the demon beneath them. Either way, no matter how much the sky flashed and shook, the rain refused to fall onto the soldiers down below.

They were well armed, though they had no use for their weapons. After all, they had won the war a long time ago. But their leader still needed them for one final job, so they listened and did what he asked. Now there they stood, forming a circular perimeter around a massive black gate. Though they had helped in its construction, it still made them nervous. The aura it gave off was that of a demon's, cold and uncaring if the soldiers lived or died.

However their leader seemed to find some comfort in the gate, as he stood directly in front of it. He was as still as stone, seemingly ignoring everything around him as he gazed at the massive gate before him. It seemed like he was waiting for something, but what it was, his men had no idea.

The soldiers tried to talk to one another, to pass the time or to be entertained, but their conversations quickly died out, almost as if their will to speak was being taken from them. So they stood where they were, their torches flickering in the wind and chills running down their spines.

Suddenly the soldiers felt it, the overwhelming presence that they had been waiting for. As one, a group of them stepped to the side, creating a pathway to their leader. At the start of the path stood a cloaked man, his features all but hidden from view. He stood there for a moment, looking at the gate in front of him, before taking a step forward. Slowly, he walked through the path created by the soldiers.

He never looked at them, seeming to deem them unimportant, nor did he slow in his step. He walked with purpose, keeping his gaze on the gate before him and the man examining it. Finally the figure reached the center of the circle, standing at the man's right side.

Neither of them said anything, taking the time to examine the massive gate. It was indeed quite large, standing over fifty feet in height. It had black doors with a gold frame surrounding them. On each of the doors were six indents, all of them different and distinct. They looked similar to keys, however the ends were in strange shapes that looked like they would never fit a lock. A spider web of lines ran from the indents, criss crossing each other until they reached the other door.

"Impressive, isn't it?" The man asked, turning his head to glance at his companion. The cloaked figure shrugged, as if he didn't agree. The man knew the truth though, even if his companion would never admit it, he was impressed.

"It took a long time to design this. I had to not only tie it to the original Eclipse Gate but I had to force it open on the other side as well since, as you know, it normally needs both sides open in order for it to work," He explained. The hooded man said nothing but the first man wasn't bothered by the fact, after all, his companion had lost the ability to speak a long time ago.

"The one thing I could not decide upon was a name for this new gate. Eclipse was used for the first one so I decided to choose something that was involved with the moon. What do you think of the Lunar Gate?" He asked. The cloaked figure turned to him, staring at him in obvious disbelief.

"What? I thought it was a good name," The man said defensively but his companion simply gave him a deadpan look.

"Well what do you think we should name it?" He asked. The hooded man thought about the name for a few moments, rubbing his chin in thought. Finally he motioned to the land around him, making a sweeping motion with his hands. To many it would have been completely confusing, but the man had been with his companion long enough to understand what he was saying.

"The Horizon Gate huh? It could work, and it's certainly fitting," The man admitted. The cloaked figure crossed his arms arrogantly, making the man scoff at his actions. The man would almost call what they were doing friendly banter, except for the fact that his companion hated him with every fiber of his being.

"Do you have them?" He asked, bringing the conversation back to the topic at hand. The hooded man nodded, reaching into his left side pocket. Slowly, almost reluctantly, he withdrew a ring of golden keys and handed them to the man. The twelve of them were all distinct and different, similarly to the indents on the gate. The man looked at them appreciatively, nodding as he sensed the power emanating from them.

"I'm surprised you didn't give them to another spirit mage, though I assume that was because there aren't any left," He said with a chuckle. He stopped when he sensed his companion glaring at him. It would have terrified a lesser man, but to him, it was simply a warning. Nodding in understanding, he swiftly pulled the keys off the ring. He juggled them in his hand for a moment before throwing them up into the air. Neither of them made a move to save them, instead watching them spin in the air. A moment later, the man reached out with his hand, suspending the keys in the air with his power. He flicked his hand and sent them spinning towards the gate. Carefully, he set each of them in their proper places. When the last one clicked into place, the gate began to tremble. Then, with an explosion of power, it began to open.

Slowly at first, then faster and faster the doors began to swing open, almost blinding the two with a bright ray of light. The power from the gate began to buffet them with gusts of strong wind. But still, the two stood strong, even as the soldiers behind them began to be thrown back. When the gate was completely open, the hooded figure stepped forward. However, before he could take another, the man grabbed his shoulder. The cloaked man turned to shoot him a questioning glance.

"Don't forget our deal Natsu, don't forget what you promised," Zeref said, his eyes blazing with power. Natsu glared at him for a moment before flinching slightly. The dark mage looked down to see his companion's right arm twitch slightly, as if it had a mind of it's own and was trying to fight it's master. Before anything could happen though, Natsu grabbed his wrist with his other hand, keeping it still. The dragon slayer nodded at Zeref before he began to push his way forward.

As he approached the gate, the force of the magic began to push against him. It tried to make him turn back, to force him to give up his mission, but he refused to stop. Slowly, step by step, he made his way to the entrance. At one point a strong gust of wind slammed into him, staggering him and blowing his hood back, revealing a mess of pink hair. He recovered quickly though, and continued forward until he reached the portal. He stopped just short of the entrance, pausing for a moment, before turning to look back.

Zeref still stood there, watching the dragon slayer. When he saw Natsu looking at him, the death mage raised his hand, a final goodbye from one brother to another. The dragon slayer likewise raised his hand, silently saying his farewell, before turning around and leaping through the portal. As he entered the doors swung shut, booming closed behind him. Zeref stood there, still as a statue, looking at the gate. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he looked up. He closed his eyes and spread his arms wide, as if embracing the sky.

And finally it rained.

**X777**

Underneath Crocus, the capital of Fiore, stood a large and forgotten relic called the Eclipse Gate. Standing close to fifty feet in height, it was massive enough to allow a full grown dragon to pass through. But it was useless now, sealed long ago when dragons had roamed the earth and demons still posed a threat to humanity. It had lain there, for who knows how long, and hadn't been discovered until an old king built his castle above the gate. Every other generation, when the old king or queen died and their successor took the throne, they would usually post guards at the gate in case something might happen. After a year or two, the new king or queen would usually pull the soldiers away from the post. After all, why would they need to guard a gate that didn't go anywhere and could only be reached by going through the castle itself?

But the current king of Fiore had done just that, posting guards in front of the gate for a few years before placing them somewhere else. Unlike his predecessors thought, he should have kept the soldiers stationed there though. That way, they might have seen what was about to happen. Slowly, with a loud rumbling, the doors began to open. As they began to creak open, light poured out of the cracks, blinding the room with a brilliant light. After a few moments, the gate finished opening, the loud rumbling falling silent. For a single moment, nothing happened, the room silent as it glowed with light.

Then Natsu suddenly appeared, shooting out of the gate. He tumbled a few times before coming to a stop on the floor. He stood up and dusted himself off, cursing Zeref inside his head. Suddenly he froze, as he heard a noise behind him.

Turning around, he saw the doors begin their trip back to the gate, making the same grinding noise it had made earlier. The dragon slayer looked on as the doors continued to close, watching as his only way back was closed off from him forever.

'It's not like there was anything worth going back for anyway,' He thought, snorting in twisted amusement. His thoughts were cut off when the doors finished closing, swinging shut with a massive slam. He jumped in surprise, cursing the dark mage once more before he began to run down the hallway. After a while it turned into a basement that stretched out in every direction, dozens of rooms lining the walls. As Natsu ran, his enhanced hearing caught the sound of soldiers approaching through the corridors.

'At least there is still a way out of here,' He thought, picking up his pace. He ran for another minute, taking a series of turns to not only evade the guards but also find the way out of the basement. He was forced to stop when he realized that he had been accidently trapped by the guards.

Inwardly cursing, he looked around for a way out. The only option he had were several doors leading to storage rooms. Leaping to the closest one, he threw the door open and dived in, closing the door behind him as quietly as possible. Less than a second later he heard the guards storm down the hallway, searching for the source of the disturbance.

"I'm telling you, it came from this direction!" One of the guards exclaimed.

"But who would even be down here? How would they even get here? The only way down here is through us?" Another one argued.

"Enough!" A third voice cut in, probably their commanding officer. "We need to find out what made that noise and see if anyone is down here. Let's move!"

Natsu let out a silent sigh of relief as the tromp of their boots slowly faded away, silently thanking whatever god had kept him from being discovered. Suddenly he froze, as a voice came from behind him.

"What are you doing here?"


	2. An Accidental Run In

Princess Hisui was not having a good day. First she had spilled her tea, and then her father had been called on important business, ruining their morning they usual spent together. And finally her teacher had decided that they were going to learn all the laws of the kingdom.

Her child level of patience had finally had enough. She decided to head down to the lower levels, where the storage rooms were located. It was rather easy sneaking past the guards, they probably didn't expect a child to try and sneak past them.

Once she was down there, she did what she usually did, choosing a random storage room and hiding out in there. She had been in there for a while, mentally grumbling about how bad her day was going, when a loud bang suddenly echoed down the hallway.

'What was that?' She wondered, slowly opening the door to peek out into the hallway. Before she could venture out of the room, she heard the sound of soldiers running down the hall.

'I can't let them find me down here!' She thought panickedly. Her father would be upset and disappointed is he found out she was hiding out down here, and her teacher would give her even more homework.

So she quickly shut the door, and hid behind a box. After a minute or two she heard the door open. She held her breath, surprised by the sudden entrance.

'I didn't even hear them!' She thought, thinking it was the soldiers. But instead of searching the room, the newcomer closed the door, making sure to shut it as quietly as possible. Hisui stayed in her hiding place, just in case it was one of the soldiers.

A moment later the sound of voices came down the hallway, it was the guards, talking about the noise she had earlier. As their voices faded, she slowly came out of her hiding place, looking at the person hiding in the room with her.

She honestly couldn't see much of the person, they were hidden by a dark cloak, covering almost their entire body. All she could see was that they wore sandals on their feet. Mustering her courage, she put her hands on her hips and gave the figure her most impressive glare, though it honestly wasn't that impressive.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded, trying to imitate the voice her father sometimes used when reprimanding someone. Faster than she could blink, the figure whirled around, reaching out to her with a hand. It froze less than an inch from her face, close enough for her to see gleaming claws in place of nails. She looked into the eyes of the thirty something man, his gaze dangerous and deadly, like a predator's. She swallowed nervously, realizing that she had made a _huge_ mistake. This was obviously an intruder, and if they had managed to sneak past all of the guards protecting the castle, than he was very, very dangerous.

Suddenly the stranger retracted his hand, reaching up and scratching the back of his head. It was a strange sight to see, his hood jumping up and down and revealing flashes of pink hair. His next movement was just as strange, bowing at his waist with his hands to his sides. It took a moment for Hisui to realize that he was _apologizing_.

"Um... It's okay?" She sort of asked, this situation was rather hard to understand. The man straightened, grinning in relief.

Now that her heart wasn't pounding in her chest, she had the chance to examine him better. She could barely see anything about him honestly. He seemed to be in his thirties, and underneath his cloak he wore a pair of black pants and a shirt with only one sleeve that covered his right arm. A black strip of cloth wrapped around his neck, hiding it from view. She couldn't see his hair except earlier when he had lifted his hood. All she could see was his cheerful expression, as well as a scar that cut across his right jaw. It was a pretty noticeable scar too, as it was long enough to almost reach his eye. An interesting thing she noticed was that his right hand had a glove on it while his left hand was bare.

Suddenly the man blinked, as if remembering something, before reaching into a pocket into his cloak. Hisui stiffened in worry, just because he had apologized for almost… doing whatever it was he was about to do, it didn't mean that he wasn't dangerous.

She blinked in surprise as he pulled out a notebook, and a rather plain one at that. The man nodded in satisfaction before reaching into the pocket again. Slowly, a frown came over his face as he failed to find whatever he was looking for. He quickly began searching the rest of his pockets, patting them down as he searched for whatever it was he needed.

'Um… do you need help?" Hisui asked hesitantly. It was her job as the princess of Fiore to help people, even if it was someone as strange as this man was. The stranger just shook his head, continuing his search.

'He hasn't said anything this entire time,' She suddenly realized. Before she could ask why, the man's eyes suddenly flashed in accomplishment. Whipping a pen out of his pocket, he held it up as if it was the greatest treasure in Fiore. Suddenly plopping down on the floor, he flipped open the notebook and quickly wrote something down. After a moment he showed it to her. Despite how fast he had written the message, it was surprisingly neat. The message wasn't what she was expecting though.

_I always manage to lose that thing._ He wrote, and honestly, Hisui could sympathize.

"Sometimes I lose my tiara, and I have to find it before my father finds out or he'll be disappointed in me," She admitted before remembering her earlier question. "Why are you writing instead of talking?"

The man raised his hand to his mouth before flinging it outward, as if expelling something, then he shook his head. It took a moment for Hisui to understand what he meant.

"You can't talk?" She asked hesitantly. The stranger smiled, clapping his hands and giving her a thumbs up. She blushed slightly as she translated his motions.

'_Congrats, you got it!_'

"Thank you," She said politely. The man smiled before writing something in his notebook.

_So what's your name?_ She blinked in surprise as she realized that she hadn't introduced herself yet, or even found out what his name was.

"My name is Hisui," She said, expecting him to realize who she was and start bowing. She honestly didn't like all of the attention, she just wanted to be treated normally. To her surprise he simply nodded.

_Emerald, that's a nice name._ He wrote. Hisui bowed slightly, secretly glad that he hadn't done the same to her. She didn't like it when the soldiers or her teacher bowed, it made her feel like she was above her. This man didn't seem to think that way, making her happy.

"What's your name?" She asked politely. His reaction was interesting, he gained a blank look, like he couldn't think of the answer.

"You don't know you own name?" She asked incredulously. She had heard of people with insomnia, but not someone who had only forgot his name. The man huffed silently, slightly indignant.

_Of course I know my name. It's…_ He paused again, thinking for a few moments. Suddenly he snapped his fingers, going back to his notebook.

_It's Aki._ He wrote, smiling proudly.

"Are you sure? Aki, as in Fall the season?" Hisui asked dubiously. He pouted slightly, making him seem like a kid. She raised her hands placatingly.

"Alright, alright. Your name is Aki. Now Aki, why are you here?" She asked. Aki shrugged, as if it wasn't that important.

_A friend of mine had to drop me off, the problem was that the only place he could drop me off is here._ He explained, as if it made total sense.

"In all of Fiore, the only place he could drop you off was the castle's basement?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow. Aki shrugged again.

_He's strange like that._ Was all he said. Hisui thought about arguing, but she gave up on the idea. Aki was still a mystery to her, but she was pretty sure that he wouldn't talk unless he wanted to. Her attention was drawn to the man scribbling on his notebook again.

_Now tell me, what is a fair maiden like you doing in a place like this?_ He asked, making her blush at the compliment.

"I… wanted to be alone with my thoughts," She admitted. Aki tilted her head in confusion.

_Is something wrong?_ He asked gently. At least that was how Hisui felt it sounded like.

"I'm just tired of my life. Of not being able to see my father, of having to follow hundreds of rules I don't even know about, and being expected to always be perfect," She explained sadly. Aki nodded in understanding, patting her head as well as he could with the tiara on. She smiled at his touch, it was nice to be treated as if she wasn't someone so important.

_I don't know much about rules and expectations, but I know what it's like to not see your father. My father left a long time ago, when I was just a child. I was sad at first, I searched for him for days, hoping he was just playing a joke on me. Over time though, I realized that he truly was gone, and that he wasn't coming back. While his disappearance made me sad, it also allowed me to meet many friends and people I even considered family._

Hisui stared at what he had written before staring at him.

"Why are you telling me this?" She asked in a small voice. What he had written was so personal, she didn't understand why he was sharing it with her, a total stranger. He seemed to know what she was thinking, because he smiled gently.

_An elder's job is to pass on his knowledge to the next generation, so that they don't make the same mistakes he does. What I want you to know, is that even if you aren't able to see your father often enough, you can still be happy with those around you._

"But they always bow to me and treat me like they don't deserve to talk to me!" She exclaimed. Aki gave her a serious look

_Then show them that they shouldn't bow, and that they are equal to you. They should be your friends, not your followers. Even if they still choose to treat you the same, remember that they know that if they ever have any problems, they'll come to you._

"Are you sure that's what will happen?" Hisui asked hesitantly. It was hard to imagine that all of her subjects would do something like that, they always seemed to be concerned that they were doing something wrong when they interacted with her. Aki seemed absolutely certain though, flashing her a grin and a thumbs up. She smiled back at him, bowing slightly.

"Thank you for your advice Aki, I really appreciate it," She said. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, uncomfortable with the attention.

_It's no problem._ He wrote before grinning mischievously. _Now how about we sneak out of here?_

Hisui grinned, his enthusiasm rubbing off on her.

"Let's go,"

**-A Little Later-**

It had been almost as easy to sneak out of the basement as it had been to sneak in. Aki had made a noise to distract the guards before ducking into a room with Hisui. After the soldiers had run past, the two had made their way back to the main floor. They continued on until they reached an open window, where Aki stopped.

"What's wrong?" Hisui asked. Someone could come at any moment, and she didn't have an excuse for what her new friend was doing here. Aki glanced at the window before turning back to her.

_I need to head out._ He explained.

"What, why?" She exclaimed. She had just met the man but she enjoyed talking with him, and now he had to leave. He seemed to understand why she was upset though because he patted her head reassuringly.

_The longer I stay here, the higher the chances that I'll be caught. Also, I need to take care of some things that can't wait. Don't worry though, I'll visit you when I can._

"Promise?" She asked hopefully. She would love the chance to talk with him again. Aki flashed a blinding smile before quickly climbing out the window. She ran to the windowsill to see him leave but he had already disappeared.

"There you are princess!" A voice came from behind her. Turning, she saw her tutor, looking slightly out of breath.

"I was worried that you had accidently missed your study time," He said. Inwardly, Hisui sighed, he knew that she had skipped class but he was trying to be nice about it. Remembering Aki's words though, she bowed in apology.

"I'm sorry teacher, I was thinking of skipping studying the laws of Fiore. I promise that I won't do it again," She apologized sincerely. Her tutor seems stunned by her words, unable to say anything for a moment. Finally he recovered, clearing his throat.

"Thank you for the apology your Highness, and I'm glad that you won't skip any more classes," He said before motioning toward the library. "Let's begin your studying now."

Hisui nodded, following her teacher. Mentally, she thanked Aki.

'You were right after all, things are already starting to be better,' She thought happily.


	3. Burning Ice

**There's something I want to add right here. I was curious once and looked up the Fairy Tail timeline. The kids joined the guild at various points in time, some a year or two apart.**

**In this fic I am not going to do that, I'm simply going to have them all come to the guild at once, or I should say Aki is going to bring them all at once. As for the other kids who did not join when they were children, we'll see. **

"Don't do this!" Gray shouted, tears in his eyes. He was carrying Lyon by his side as Deliora raged in front of them, laying waste to the town they were in.  
Standing between the demon and him was his master, Ur.

The woman that had taken him in when his family had been killed by Deliora, had trained him how to use Ice Maker Magic. And was now about to sacrifice herself because it was _his_ fault.

"This is the only way Gray, to free you from you hate," Ur said calmly. She seemed unharmed, except for her right leg, which was now an ice prosthesis. What really worried Gray was the stance she was taking, her legs spread apart and her arms crossed in front of her.

"Iced Shell is the only thing that can defeat this thing, and I'm willing to give everything, even my life," She said, summoning her power. Iced Shell was a powerful spell, sealing the target away in an ice that was impervious to almost anything in the world. The only downside was that it cost the caster's life.

Ur was willing to sacrifice it though, if it meant protecting her surrogate sons, the ones that helped mend the hole in her heart. She took a deep breath, preparing to use the spell that would end her life.

Before she could though, something caught her eye. At first she thought it was a star, twinkling through the smoke and fire. But then she realized that it was growing bigger, coming closer and closer towards them. The object was on fire, burning brighter than the sun itself. She watched as it finally reached them, slamming into Deliora like a sledgehammer. The demon staggered back, roaring in pain. Even from this distance, she could see a burn mark stretching across it's body.

She was so shocked by what had happened that she barely notice something land in front of them. Turning to it, she realized that it wasn't a something, but a someone. The figure wore a dark cloak, hiding their features. They slowly stood up, gazing at Deliora bellow in pain before turning around to look at her.

Ur stared at the man that stood before her, his eyes hard as diamond but glowing with power. He looked at her, evaluating her. His eyes flickered to her ice leg before meeting her eyes again.

"Who-who are you?" She asked breathlessly. She blinked in surprise as he suddenly smiled reassuringly, his eyes becoming warm and friendly. Before she could ask anything else, a sudden motion caught her eye.

Deliora had recovered from the surprise attack, and he wanted revenge. He loomed over the humans, lifting his fist, ready to crush them.

"Behind you!" She shouted, but she was too late. Deliora swung, the power of his punch causing the very air to quake. The newcomer didn't seem concerned though, stretching out a hand as if to catch the fist bigger than himself. Ur wanted to scream at him that it was useless, they would all die anyways, but she was overwhelmed by Deliora's power.

The demon's fist collided with the stranger's hand with an explosion of power... and stopped. The shockwave from the punch continued onwards, parting around the man as if he was a rock in a stream and protecting the ice mage and her students in the process. Ur stared in shock as the stranger slowly turned to Deliora, tilting his head to stare it in the eye, saying nothing.

Suddenly fire exploded around him, forcing the demon back. Even though Ur was a couple dozen feet away from the flames, she could still feel the intense heat. As Deliora recovered, the man turned back to her, slowly waving his hand in front of him. As he did, flames flickered to life in front of Ur, forming a variety of shapes. It took her a moment to realize that they were actually letters.

_Run._ Was the simple message. She didn't even think about arguing, she knew that she was useless here. If this stranger was able to stop Deliora with his bare hands, when she couldn't even wound it, this was no place for her. Nodding, she ran over to Gray.

"Come on, we need to get out of here," She ordered, taking Lyon from the stunned boy. He had seen the entire fight, and he didn't seem able to comprehend what had just happened.

"Gray!" She ordered, slapping him. She didn't want to do it, but it was the only way to gain his attention. Gray held his cheek in pain, looking up at her before looking at the man who was watching them, Deliora roaring in pain behind him.

"We need to help him!" He cried but Ur shook his head.

"He can handle himself, we need to leave before we get caught up in this!" She said, beginning to run away. It was hard going with her new limb, but she managed.

Glancing back to check that Gray was following her, she could see the man turning back to Deliora as it focused on him again, growling angrily. The stranger didn't seem worried though, curling his hand into a fist as it was engulfed with fire. He crouched slightly in preparation before launching himself like a bullet. Deliora tried to grab him but it was too slow. The man slammed his fist into it's chest, the fire exploding on impact, once more scarring the demon's body.

Ur didn't see anymore of the fight, focusing on making her way through all of the rubble and debris. She did hear it though, the sounds of roaring and explosions echoing behind her. After several minutes, Ur and her students made it out of the village, climbing the slope that the villagers were on. Once they were safe, she checked to make sure that Lyon and Gray were unharmed, laying the former on the ground with her jacket as a pillow.

Turning back to the fight, she stared in surprise. The village had already been destroyed from Deliora's attack, but now it was completely obliterated. In the middle of where it had once been, Deliora stood, blackened and scarred. Far below him, almost unnoticeable, stood the stranger. As she watched, Deliora roared, charging a massive blast of magic in his mouth. She had seen it before, that thing cut through everything, leaving behind a series of explosions.

'Even that man can't survive that if he takes it head on.' She thought, but again she was wrong. The man seemed to lean backwards, as if stretching, or taking a deep breath. As the demon launched a massive beam of energy at the stranger, he unleashed his own attack.

A massive breath of fire erupted from his figure, tearing into the beam like it was nothing. The fire continued on to consume Deliora, hiding it from view. It did nothing to hide the screaming though. The demon let loose a terrible, horrifying bellow as it was seared by the flames, one that everyone there would remember for the rest of their lives.

As the flames began to die down, Deliora was nothing but a burned and broken shell. As they watched, it slowly began to disintegrate, turning into ash that was quickly blown away by the wind.

For a long time, everyone was silent, unable to process what just happened.

Suddenly the villagers erupted into cheering, overjoyed that their tormenter was dead. The man jumped in surprise, turning to the group. He scratched the back of his head before making his way towards them. Ur shook her head at the stranger's reaction.

'He's strong enough to kill Deliora, but he's surprised by a group of cheering people? What a strange man.' She thought.

"H-how?" She turned to the sound of Gray's voice. He was staring at where Deliora once stood, completely in shock of what had just happened. Ur understood what he was going through, it was his goal in life to kill Deliora, but he had been too weak to even hurt it. But then this man had shown up, completely destroying the demon like it was nothing. It was hard for Gray to realize that his dream was gone. Ur sighed, bringing the boy into a hug. He barely seemed to notice it, still staring off into the distance.

"It's gone Gray, let it go," She said, rubbing his head gently. He looked up at her.

"How?" He asked again, his eyes brimming with tears. Unfortunately, she didn't have an answer to his question. Both of them were distracted by the sound of crunching snow. Turning, they saw the stranger coming over the slope, his cloak still as immaculate as it had been when he had arrived. The villagers crowded around him, all trying to talk to him at once. They quieted down as the village elder approached him. She looked at him before also looking at Ur and her students.

"On behalf all of us, I thank you for what all of you have done for us," She said, bowing. To everyone's surprise, the man pulled out a notebook and pen, quickly writing something in it before showing it to the elder. She read it before looking at him in surprise.

"There's no need to apologize for the village, Deliora had destroyed most of it already," She said sadly. The stranger nodded in understanding, writing something else.

"We'll salvage what we can and head to the closest village when the sun comes up," The elder decided. The man scribbled into his book again, making the woman shake her head.

"No, we don't have any shelter for the night," She admitted. He nodded before motioning to her to wait. Walking over to Ur, he crouched next to her, showing her what he had written.

_Do you think that you and your students have enough magic left to make a igloo big enough for everyone to spend the night in?_ He asked. Ur was surprised by his question, not that he knew they were ice mages, she had almost used Iced Shell after all, but the fact that he knew that Gray and Lyon were her students. Putting her curiosity aside, she checked her magic reserves before nodding.

"I should have enough to pull it off," She answered. He grinned happily before turning back to the elder, who was watching them in confusion. He wrote something, showing it to the woman. She read it before looking at both of them in surprise.

"You would do that for us?" She asked breathlessly. Ur wasn't sure what the man agreed to do, but she nodded for her part while he gave a thumbs up. The elder bowed again.

"Again, thank so much for all your help," She said gratefully. The stranger shrugged like it wasn't a big deal while Ur pushed herself to her feet. Still unused to her ice leg, she stumbled forward. The man was by her side in an instant, grabbing her arm to keep her from falling. Once she was upright he let go of her, tilting his head questioningly and giving a thumbs up. She quickly understood his silent question.

"I'm alright," She said, pausing for a moment. "Thank you."

The man grinned and nodded before motioning to a flat patch of snow. Ur nodded back, slightly limping to the space. Putting her fist into her open hand, she channeled her magic.

"**Ice Make: Dome!**" She exclaimed, throwing her power forward. The ice spread from her hand, forming an arc that quickly expanded into a massive igloo, large enough to fit everyone and still have room to spare. She made sure to keep it structurally safe, and leave an opening on top for when they lit a fire. Once it was finished, she canceled her magic, feeling the drain on her reserves. She turned as the man approached her, patting her on the back and giving a gentle smile. She smiled back, though hers was a bit more tired.

"Children and anyone who is injured in there, everyone else, look for wood for fire and anything else we can use," The elder ordered, and the villagers jumped to work. Ur limped over to her students, they had stayed were she had left them.

"You could help the others," She commented, glancing back at the stranger who had decided to trail behind her. He shrugged, gesturing to the still unconscious Lyon and making a motion of picking something up. Ur hesitated about letting the man touch her student, she barely knew anything about him, but she knew that she was in no shape to carry Lyon.

"Be careful with him," She asked. He nodded, gently lifting Lyon's head and taking Ur's jacket it, handing it back to her. As she put it back on, he lifted Lyon into his arms, making sure that the boy was comfy before he carried him to the igloo. Turning to Gray, Ur motioned for him to follow. He did, but he seemed subdued.

'I'll talk to him later.' She promised as they entered the igloo.

Thankfully she had managed to make it correctly, she had been worried that her magic might of failed part way through. The villagers were making themselves as comfortable as possible, it was too cold to be too comfortable but at least they were out of the wind now.

The stranger didn't seemed bothered by the cold though, taking off his cloak and laying Lyon on it. Because it was so long, he was able to use it as both a pillow and a mat, rolling up a corner for the pillow. He turned as Ur and Gray approached. Now that his cloak was off, she could see his outfit as well his scar, though what really interested her was blood red hair. It wasn't a common hair color, especially in these parts. He glanced at them for a moment, his gaze lingering on Gray, before he stood up, pulling out his notebook

_You should have someone look at that leg._ He wrote.

"People need more help than I do right now," She said, looking around. Many of the villagers were hurt and needed medical attention. Her ice prosthesis was keeping the wound from bleeding for now The man nodded in agreement, but he still frowned at her.

_Just don't wait too long._ He wrote, making sure she read it before walking away to help the others.

"Wait, what's your name?" Ur asked, realizing that she still didn't know his name. He paused, smacking his forehead as he realized the same thing. His sudden changes in personality was hard to get used to, she could barely compare this man to the one that had defeated Deliora.

_Aki, what's yours?_ He asked, walking back.

"I'm Ur, this is Gray and Lyon," She said, motioning to her students in turn. He waved at Gray, who looked away from him. Aki tilted his head before shrugging.

_I'm going to help the search party, I'll be back in a bit._ He said before walking away. Ur watched him leave.

"Fall, huh? It matches his hair," She mused.

**-An Hour Later-**

Lyon had woken up a little while after they had entered the igloo, demanding answers. Ur had been busy helping with the wounded, so she had Gray explain what had happened. He didn't seem happy about it, but he had done it anyway. Lyon didn't seem to really care that Aki had managed to kill Deliora, he was more upset that the man was apparently stronger than Ur. It was the boy's dream to become stronger than her, because he thought she was the strongest. So with this man showing up out of the blue and doing something Ur couldn't accomplish, it put a dent in Lyon's goal.

The people that had been searching the debris had eventually come back, bringing with them a few megear supplies that they had found. Thankfully they had brought enough wood that they were able to start a bonfire big enough to warm everyone in the igloo. Right now Aki was at the pile of lumber, trying to set it on fire. To the surprise of everyone he wasn't using his magic, instead choosing to use a flint and steel. A few of the children started to ask why he was doing that, but their parents hushed them. He had saved their lives, so they wouldn't question his reasons. Lyon had no such reservations though.

Ur sighed as the boy stomped up the Aki. She followed behind him to make sure he wouldn't say anything too stupid.

"Why are you using a flint and steel?" Lyon demanded as he planted his feet next to Aki. The man was scowling at the tools in his hand, annoyed that they weren't working. He spared Lyon a short glance before going back to starting a fire.

"Gray said you use fire magic, why aren't you using it to start the fire?" The boy asked. Aki sighed, putting the flint and steel long enough to jot something in his notebook.

_Because I don't want to._ Was his only reply. Ur sighed as Lyon bristled in anger. She didn't understand why the man wouldn't use his magic, but she was polite enough not to ask. Her student didn't have manners though, and she could tell that he was becoming more and more irritated.

"Why do you always write in your notebook? You could just talk!" Lyon said condescendingly, picking on something else that annoyed him. Ur slapped him upside the head.

"You don't ask something like that!" She scolded him. It was obvious that Aki was mute, and Lyon most likely knew but still wanted to score a blow to the man. Aki didn't seem to mind though, simply watching their interaction with an amused expression.

_Don't worry about it, it's not the first time I've been asked, and it probably won't be the last._ He assured her before she could apologize.

"I'm still sorry about his behavior," She said, but he just waved it off. Lyon took the moment to speak up.

"Gray said you defeated Deliora, and that means you're supposed to be stronger than Ur," He gritted though his teeth. "But he was wrong, you're weak."

Ur started to scold him again, but she stopped when Aki looked at her and shook his head. He wrote something down before showing it to Lyon. The boy read it before glaring at the man, too angry to speak. He stomped off a moment later. Ur watched him leave before turning to Aki. She wasn't upset by whatever the man had done, Lyon deserved it for how rude he had been, she was simply curious.

"What did you say to him?" She asked. He shrugged, showing her the notebook.

_It takes more strength to not use your magic than it does to use it._ He had written, and Ur agreed. Wizards used their magic every day, taking it for granted. If everyone suddenly lost their powers, a lot of the mages wouldn't know what to do.

_I hope I didn't make Lyon too angry._ Aki wrote, a concerned frown on his face.

"He'll calm down after a while, he just needs to understand that the world is bigger than he thought," She explained. The man nodded in understanding, picking up the flint and steel and going back to trying to start a fire. Ur left him to his work, walking over to her students. She sighed as she saw that now both of them were sulking, though for different reasons.

'Kids.' She thought, shaking her head. She sat between them, glancing at both of them.

"You two should get some rest, you've been through a lot," She told them.

"I've had enough rest already," Lyon retorted, shooting Aki a glare every couple of seconds. Ur let him fume, turning to Gray. He was a bit more sullen, looking down at the ground. She brought him into a hug, running her fingers through his hair.

"You should sleep for a while, you've been through a lot," She told him gently. He looked up at her, his eyes watery.

"What do I do now that Deliora is dead?" He asked quietly. Ur sighed, Gray had spent all of his time wanting revenge against the demon, and now that it was gone he didn't know what to do.

"You need to let go of your hate for Deliora, it's gone and it's never coming back," She assured her surrogate son. "You need to move past this."

Gray sniffled before nodding, though he still seemed conflicted. Ur knew that she wasn't the one to talk to him about this, she had never gone through anything like he was going through.

"I… need to think," Gray said softly, standing up and walking away. She let him go, though she watched him worriedly. Hopefully he could figure out what to do with his life now.

She was distracted by a flicker of orange. Turning, she saw that Aki had finally managed to light the bonfire, and it was slowly engulfing the rest of the wood, filling the igloo with warmth. Some of the villagers moved closer for warmth, while others shed their coats. Ur stayed where she was, as an ice mage, she didn't care for the heat.

'Speaking of ice, I should have my leg checked now.' She thought, remembering her promise to Aki.

While she was having her leg examined, she looked over at Aki. After lighting the fire he hadn't moved from his spot, simply staring into the flames. If the heat bothered him he didn't show it, though she doubted that he even felt it. As she watched, he moved, slowly reaching his bare hand into the fire. She wanted to shout at him for being stupid, but before she could he retracted his hand, but it wasn't empty. A small ball of fire flickered in his hand, burning without any source of fuel.

Suddenly he sent the fire dancing across his hand, jumping from finger to finger and curling around his hand like a snake. Ur was entranced by the flame, it was like it had a life of it's own, ecstatic that it had the chance to run wild. Aki didn't seem to really care about what the fire was doing, simply moving his hand to go along with the flame. It was like he really didn't notice it, simply doing it subconsciously as he thought about something else.

Finally it stopped it's dance, hovering just above his palm. It looked at it for a moment, tilting his head to study it. Suddenly his hand snapped close, extinguishing the flame forever. He stood up, brushing some snow off and walking away from the bonfire.

The villager that was examining Ur had begun bandaging her leg, so she could only watch as he walked over to Lyon. By now she wasn't worried about Aki talking to her kids, he was a little strange but he had put up with Lyon, something a lot of people couldn't do. If anything, she was curious what he was doing.

Aki stopped by the boy, grabbing his cloak and putting it on before approaching him. Lyon saw him coming and glared at him, saying something. Ur was too far away to hear him, but she knew him well enough to guess that he was probably demanding what Aki wanted. The man crouched next to Lyon to be level with him, showing the boy his notebook. The boy read it before saying something else. Aki shrugged, writing a reply. Lyon glared at him before thumbing at the entrance to the igloo. The man nodded his thanks before standing up, which Lyon just scoffed at, and walking toward the opening. As he disappeared outside, Ur couldn't help but wonder.

'Where is he going?'

**-Outside-**

Gray sat outside, his knees drawn up to his chest. He was looking the ruins of the village, but he wasn't really seeing it. He was too lost in thought about what had transpired.

'Deliora is dead and my family is avenged, but I wasn't the one who killed it.' He thought. His emotions were conflicted on the matter, one hand he was happy that the demon was dead, on the other hand he was upset that he wasn't strong enough to be the one to do the deed. The main problem was the he didn't know what he was going to do now.

He was so lost in thought that he didn't hear anyone approaching him until he realized that someone was standing right next to him. Looking up, he forgot how to breath as he saw Aki looking down at him. He had put his hood back on, so all Gray could see was the man's face. The man didn't seem to notice his panic, motioning to a spot next to the boy. Gray couldn't speak though, he was too shocked by the man's sudden appearance.

Aki waited a moment before settling down next to the boy, sitting cross legged. The man glance at Gray for a moment before scribbling in his book.

_You should put a coat on._ He had written. Gray swallowed, finding his voice.

"Ur taught Lyon and me to be immune to the cold," He explained. Aki nodded in understanding.

_It's the same way with my magic. By body temperature is higher than a normal person's, so the cold doesn't bother me._ He wrote. He paused for a moment before writing another sentence.

_I'm sorry for taking your dream away._ Gray flinched at the words as if Aki had stabbed him.

"H-how did you know that?" He asked quietly.

_You seemed upset so I was going to check on you to see if you were okay. I asked Lyon where you had went and he snapped at me about running your dream of defeating Deliora. I don't think your friend likes me very much._ He wrote, scratching the back of his head and accidently making his hood jump up and down.

"He's not my friend," Gray responded automatically. Internally he promised Lyon a beat down the next time he had the chance, the other boy shouldn't have said anything. Aki shrugged at his comment.

_Friend, rival, it's the same thing. And you shouldn't be angry at him, I had a general idea already._ He admitted, making the ice mage wince at being caught. There was a moment of silence before the man glanced at him.

_Do you want to talk about it?_ He asked. Gray looked at him in surprise, the man had his head tilted, considering the boy with kind eyes.

'I don't want to talk about my problems with him, he killed Deliora!' Gray thought until he remembered Ur's words.

'_You need to move past this._'

'And that means moving past my feelings of Deliora and Aki.' He realized. Sighing, he looked out at the ruined village.

"I used to live in a village with my mom and dad, we led a simple life but we were happy. And then Deliora came, destroying my home, killing my family, and leaving me the only survivor. That was when Ur and Lyon found me, surrounded by the ruins of my village. She took me in, trained me how to use Ice Make magic,' He paused for a moment before continuing. 'and she treated me like family."

"It was nice," He admitted. "When my family died, I felt so empty, but she made me feel like I belonged. She's like my mother now, and because I was so obsessed with revenge, I almost killed her!"

He shouted the last part, finally bursting into tears. The days events had finally caught up to him, and he was realizing just how much his mistake would have cost him. A moment later Aki wrapped his cloak around the boy and brought him into a hug. Tears in his eyes, Gray looked up at the man.

Aki gave him a reassuring smile, gently wiping a tear away from the boy's cheek. Gray didn't jerk away from the contact, instead he snuggled closer to the man. All the boy wanted right now was someone to comfort him. Aki didn't seem to mind that Gray was crying on his shirt, bringing him closer and rubbing his back comfortingly. After a minute or two, Gray pulled away, sniffling.

_Are you feeling better now?_ Aki asked. The boy nodded, before glaring at the man.

"Don't you dare tell Lyon that I cried," He warned, earning a strange reaction. The man's entire body started shaking. It took Gray a few moments to figure out what he was doing, he was laughing!

"Don't laugh at me," Gray muttered, blushing lightly. Aki grinned at him but he did stop his version of laughter.

_Don't worry, I wouldn't even think of telling him._ He assured the boy. The two of them sat there for a few minutes, looking out into the night. Suddenly Aki moved, scribbling something down.

_Have you thought of a new goal in life?_ He asked.

"I'm not sure what I'm going to do," Gray admitted. He honestly hadn't thought about it. He had become a mage in the first place to kill Deliora, now that it was dead, what was he going to do? He was distracted by the sound of pen on paper.

_Can I make a suggestion?_ Aki asked quietly, his expression subdued. Since Gray had met the man, he had seen him when he was dangerous, when he was happy, and when he was kind. Seeing him like this, somber and solemn, it was wrong.

"What is it?" Gray asked, mainly to stop Aki's somber attitude.

_Maybe you should make it your goal to protect your friends and family._ He suggested. The boy frowned at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

_You were upset about what almost happened to Ur. What will you do if she's in danger again, or even Lyon? You wanted to become strong to defeat Deliora, why not become strong to protect your family?_ He explained.

Gray thought about what Aki had written. He blamed himself for Ur almost dying, not only because he was the one that had gone after Deliora, but because he had been too weak to do anything.

'I need to make sure that it never happens again.' He thought, clenching his fists. He looked up at Aki, his eyes blazing with determination. The man nodded appreciatively, clapping the boy on the shoulder. Gray stood up to go back inside before pausing, turning back to the man.

"Thank you Aki, for everything," He said before blushing in embarrassment, running back into the igloo. Aki gave a silent chuckle of amusement, going back to gazing at the landscape. After a couple of seconds he tilted his head, patting the spot next to him.

"How did you know I was listening?" Ur asked, walking over and sitting by him. Aki smirked, tapping his nose mysteriously.

"You're a strange man Aki," She said, shaking her head.

_It's part of my charm._ He replied, grinning. She laughed in amusement, the two falling into a comfortable.

"Thank you," Ur suddenly said. Aki glanced at her with a questioning look.

"For talking to Gray," She explained, pausing. It was hard for her to admit the next part. "Even though I had raised him for several years, I didn't know how I was going to be able to help him. I felt like I had failed him somehow."

Aki gave her a comforting smile.

_Don't worry, a parent doesn't need to know everything._ He assured her. Ur quickly shook her head in denial.

"I'm not actually his mother," She told him but he just gave a silent chuckle.

_I've seen the way you two interact, and how he talks about you, it's obvious that he sees you as one._ He told her. Ur frowned, thinking about what he had written. It was true that she saw herself as a sort of pseudo mother, but she didn't know that Gray thought the same way. She looked back to Aki as he started writing again.

_That's why his new goal it to become strong enough to protect you and Lyon, because you're the only family he has right now. _He explained. Ur sighed sadly.

"It's mostly my fault," She admitted. "We live in the middle of nowhere, and we only go into town once a week, so Gray and Lyon didn't have the chance to make any friends. With my leg like this now," She knocked on her ice leg. "we'll have to live in town. Maybe they'll have the chance to make some friends when we do."

_You don't seem very convinced. _Aki noted, making Ur glance at him in surprise. He was a lot more observant than he sometimes let on.

"Whenever we've gone into town, Lyon and Gray usually get into fights with the other children. I don't know if they'll be able to make friends very easily with their past history," She told him. The man nodded in understanding. He tilted his head, regarding her. He wasn't scrutinizing her, but he did seem to be trying to determine something. Finally he nodded, going back to his notebook.

_In Fiore, there's a town named Magnolia. There's a guild there called Fairy Tail. In Fairy Tail, everyone is treated as family. It'll be good for Gray to have more friends, and it will show Lyon how many powerful people in the world._ He wrote.

"I'm not sending them on their own," Ur said sternly. She had almost lost her boys once, she wasn't going to let them out of her sight for a while.

_I wasn't just talking about them._ Was his reply. It took a couple of seconds for her to understand what he meant.

"You want me to go too," She guessed, receiving a cheerful smile in response.

_You said that you needed to move into town, but that it would probably be bad for Gray and Lyon. If you go to Magnolia, all of your problems will be solved._ He wrote. She raised an eyebrow.

"It sounds like your a guild salesman," She commented. He grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"Would they even accept us? I've heard about the guilds, they're usually selective," She asked. Aki shook his head vigorously.

_That's one of the best things about Fairy Tail. They don't care about how strong you are, or what your past might of been. They accept anyone who wants to join, and once your part of their family, they will do anything to help you._ He explained. Ur frowned in confusion.

"Their? Aren't you a Fairy Tail mage?" She wondered. From the way he had been talking, she thought he had been a guild member. Aki gave a rueful smile, as if remembering something painful.

_No, I'd like to soon but I have to take care of a couple of things first._ He wrote.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked," Ur said. He was obviously upset about something to do with guilds, though she wasn't sure what it was. Aki didn't seem to mind though, giving her a reassuring smile.

_Don't worry, it's nothing important._ He told her. It definitely didn't seem like nothing, but she dropped it. If he didn't want to talk about it then she wouldn't push. Moving on, she remembered his run in with Lyon.

"Can I ask you something?" She asked. Aki glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, tilting his head in confirmation.

"When you were talking to Lyon, he wanted to know why you didn't use magic." She hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Will you tell me why? You don't have to unless you want to," She added.

Aki frowned, though it was more thoughtful than angry. After a couple of moments he looked down, writing on his notebook.

_Lyon asked me why I didn't use my magic to light the bonfire. It's not that I didn't want to, it's because I can't, not with my rules._ He explained. Ur glanced at him in confusion.

"What do you mean rules?" She asked. Aki waved his hand in a so so motion.

_I call them rules, but they're more like conditions. Unless one of them is met, I won't allow myself to use my magic._ He told her.

"What's wrong with your magic?" She wondered. The man sighed, running a hand across his face.

_I'm too powerful for my own good. You saw that for yourself with Deliora. Most of the destruction caused after I showed up was my own fault, because I let my magic run out of control. Even when one of the conditions is met, I usually don't let my flames run so out of control. It was because of what Deliora had done that I lost my temper like that._ He wrote. Ur stared at him in shock. It was hard for her to believe that he was so strong that he had to limit his power.

'Was it possible? He managed to kill Deliora when I couldn't, but does that mean he's as powerful as he says he is?' She thought. Turned to Aki, she saw he was smiling in amusement.

_You don't have to believe me, most people don't, but it is true._ He assured her. _Do you have any other questions you want to ask?_

"Um, yeah," Ur said, taking a moment to gather her thoughts. "How many conditions are there?" Aki held up four fingers in response.

_The first one is if someone is about to die, like you were._ He began.

"Just me, you weren't worried about Gray or Lyon?" She asked angrily. He had taken care of Gray, but he acted like he hadn't cared when he arrived. He seemed to know what she was thinking because he frowned at her, giving her a serious look.

_Even from so far away, I could see what you were about to do. I know you used Iced Shell as a last resort, but you shouldn't do it again, no matter the circumstances. Lyon and Gray can't afford to lose you._ He wrote. Ur winced at his words. She had done it to save them, but she hadn't thought about what it would do to Gray and Lyon. But still…

"I'll try to not use it again, but I can't make any promises," She told him. His frown deepened, but after a couple of seconds he let it go, going back to his notebook.

_The second one is if someone is going to hurt someone I care about. The third is if someone _did _hurt someone I care about. And the fourth one, it isn't important._ He explained.

"These conditions are to limit your power, and the fourth one isn't important?" Ur asked in disbelief. It made no sense for him to just blow it off like it was nothing. Aki scowled, his eyes flashing angrily.

_It isn't important to you._ He corrected himself. She gave him a hard look.

"Fine then, I'm sorry for bringing it up," She said sarcastically. He sighed, his glare changing to an apologetic look.

_I'm sorry for getting angry. The fourth one is… personal to me._ He apologized, and Ur understood what he was implying. It was the same way as Gray had been with Deliora, an anger that didn't go away.

"You should be careful," She said quietly. He glanced at her in surprise before giving a small small.

_Thank you._ He wrote before glancing up at the moon. _I should be heading out soon._

"You're leaving?" She asked, her eyes widening in surprise. Aki stood up and brushed some snow off, nodding at her.

"Why? We need your help to take the villager to the next town," She argued. He shook his head again, pointing to her before giving her a thumbs up.

"I can't do this alone," She said quietly. With her leg, she didn't think she could protect everyone. Aki smiled, putting his hands out like he was measuring two kids.

"Lyon and Gray are competent, but they aren't adults yet," She pointed out. The man frowned, scribbling something before tearing it out and handing it to her.

_Don't count them out, especially Gray, they just might surprise you. Besides, there's something that I need to take care of as soon as possible. It'll take me at least week to get there, so even waiting a few days could be disastrous, especially since it's on the other side of Fiore._

"Wait, how are you even going to get that far in a week?" Ur demanded, looking up at him. He glanced at her, a smirk on his face. Taking a few steps back, flames suddenly exploded under him, so hot that Ur had to back away from them. As she watched, the force of the fire lifted Aki into the air, like he had rockets strapped to his feet. He waved goodbye before leaning forward. The flames responded, propelling him up and away. In a matter of minutes he was a nothing but a burst of flame in the night.

'He's certainly something else.' She thought shaking her head. Walking back to the igloo, she suddenly remembered how he had used his magic to jettison away.

'Which of the conditions were met?'


	4. Demon Girl

**Chapter 4**

**Hey, back with the next chapter, and only a couple days late. Good thing I've never been later than that. *Laughs uncomfortably and glances at my other story which hasn't been updated since last year***

**Anyways, to ease your concern, I have been working on my other story but where I have been working is a bit scattered. I've been having scenes stuck in my head for so long that I am finally putting them down on paper to get them out of my head. When they finally come out I'm sure that you will love them as much as I do.**

**Anyways, enjoy the chapter!**

**Ushindeshi: **I'm glad you enjoyed that change. I felt like Ur should have some time to shine in this fic, and possibly reconnect with her daughter. I already have some more changes in mind, some good, some bad.

**And back to the story.**

Lisanna let out a scream as a rock crashed through a window, sending glass everywhere. She and her siblings, Elfman and Mirajane, were hiding in a corner of their room, located on the second floor of their house.

The reason they were taking cover was because a group of angry townspeople were outside their house, shouting and throwing rocks.

"Get out of our town demon!"

"We don't want your kind around here!"

"Mira-nee isn't a demon!" Lisanna exclaimed.

"Lisanna stop," Mira said quietly, wrapping her cloak around herself. Lisanna knew that she was trying to hide her arm, which looked like a demon's.

A week ago, a demon had attacked the town, demanding that the townspeople bring him children. Mira had been sent, and no one knew exactly what had happened, but all they knew was that the demon had disappeared and her arm had changed into the way it was now. She had no idea what had happened, and not matter how hard she tried, she couldn't change her arm back.

The townspeople, for some crazy reason, decided that Mira was the demon and wanted to get rid of her, anyway possible. The siblings tried to tell them that they were wrong, but no one would listen to them.

Suddenly the barrage of rocks stopped, as well as the shouting. Lisanna took the opportunity to look out the window, despite her sister's warnings. The crowd was still there, but instead of assaulting the house, they were looking down the street as a man with red hair approached them.

"Hey, who are you?" One of the townspeople demanded as he neared. The man paused, tilting his head in confusion.

"Are you a demon like the girl?" A townsperson demanded. The man seemed to take offence because he scowled. For some reason he had fangs, and while it only made Lisanna curious, it made the villagers step back in fear.

"You are one! Take this!" The villager said, throwing a rock at the man. Lisanna gasped, expecting the stone to hit the man. She didn't know who he was, but she didn't want him to be hurt. Suddenly a gloved hand shot out of his cloak, catching it before it hit.

The stranger glared at the townspeople, crushing the rock in his hand. The villagers stepped back nervously, but the man didn't get any closer. Instead he opened his hand, looking at the pile of pebbles in his glove. Singling one out, he brought his other hand out of his cloak and flicked it.

It shot out like a bullet, slamming into the ground in front of the townspeople. Everyone, including Lisanna, stared at the spot in disbelief.

'How did he do that?' Lisanna wondered.

The stranger didn't seem to care about what he had just done, simply firing off another one, this one close than before. The villagers flinched back, staring at him in terror. The man gave them a hard look, his eyes giving them a silent warning.

"T-There's only one of him!" One of the townspeople said, gathering his courage. A moment later a pebble slammed into the ground at his feet. The villager jumped back in fear. The stranger looked at them all for a moment before seemingly dismissing them, walking forward. The townspeople gripped their makeshift weapons nervously, though they didn't seem about to use them any time soon. The man stopped right in front of them, staring them down. Suddenly he flicked his gloved hand, tossing the remaining pebbles at them. They harmlessly bounced off the townspeople, but that seemed to be too much for the villagers, because they took off running.

Lisanna couldn't help herself, she giggled. Watching the people who had been throwing rocks at Lisanna and her siblings run from a couple pebbles was pretty funny to watch. She didn't think that she had been very loud, but the man somehow heard her, looking up at her again. Lisanna swallowed nervously, he seemed nice, but the townspeople had been nice too. Suddenly he smiled, waving at her and she waved back.

"Lisanna come back here," Mira told her.

"But Mira-nee, a man just chased all the mean people away," Lisanna said, turning to her sister.

"That's probably because he doesn't know what's going on," Mira said.

"He does seem nice." Elfman said quietly. They all froze as the sound of knocking drifted upstairs. Going back to the window, Lisanna saw the man at their door, politely knocking. When he noticed her he waved again before motioning to the door.

"Thank you for helping us mister, but Mira-nee says that we shouldn't let anyone in," She told him. He frowned, though it was more in disappointment than anything else. Lisanna felt bad about making him upset but it could be bad if she let him in.

"What do you need mister?" She asked. The man pointed to his throat before shaking his head.

"Oh, you can't talk?" She wondered and he nodded. She thought for a moment before calling down. "Can you wait there for a second?"

When he gave her a thumbs up she turned to her sister.

"Mira-nee, the mister can't talk. How are we going to talk to him?" She asked.

"We shouldn't be talking with him at all," Mira said, shaking her head. "Just tell him to go away."

"But Mira-nee…" Lisanna began but her sister cut her off.

"Please Lisanna! Please, just tell him to leave," She said quietly. Lisanna frowned sadly, turning to the window.

"I'm sorry mister, but my sister says you should leave," She told him. He frowned again before pointing in the direction the villagers had gone.

"I don't know what we'll do," Lisanna admitted. "They won't leave us alone because they think Mira-nee's a demon."

"Lisanna!" Mira exclaimed. The younger girl clapped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide.

"I'm sorry Mira-nee, it just slipped out!" She apologized.

"What's the mister doing now?" Elfman asked and Lisanna looked at the man.

"He's… laughing?" Indeed, he was bent over, his body shaking with silent laughter. Straightening up, he held his hand next to him like he was measuring a kid before making a scary face before laughing again. The series of motions were so funny to watch that Lisanna couldn't help but laugh too. Suddenly she had a wild idea.

"Can you help Mira-nee? She got rid of a demon, but now her arm is really weird!" She asked him. He gave her two thumbs up and a smile, nodding confidently. That was enough for Lisanna. She ran down the stairs, ignoring Mira's warning, and yanked the door open. Before the man could react, she grabbed his hand and dragged him back upstairs. She let go of his hand as she reached Mira and Elfman, running over to them.

"Why did you let him in?" Mira cried, trying to hide in her cloak.

"The mister says he can help you Mira-nee!" She exclaimed happily.

"Can you?" Elfman asked hopefully. The man gave a shaky nod, still recovering from Lisanna dragging him. Slowly walking over to them, he stopped just out of arm's reach. Pulling out a notebook and pen, he scribbled something and showed it to them.

_I'm Aki, what's your name?_

"I'm Lisanna, this is Elfman, and this is Mira." Lisanna said, pointing to herself and her siblings. Aki nodded before turning to Mira.

_Lisanna said that you managed to beat a demon. You're a very brave girl._ He wrote. Mira looked away shyly.

"I had to protect Lisanna and Elfman." She muttered. The man smiled at her.

_Than you're also a very good big sister._ He told her.

"Can you actually help me?" She asked quietly, making Aki smile.

_I can do my best. Can you show me what's wrong? _He asked. Mira jerked her arm further into her cloak.

"Please Mira-nee, Aki can't help if you don't show him your arm," Lisanna pleaded. Elfman didn't say anything, but his eyes were pleading.

"I can't," Mira said sadly. If she showed her arm to this man, she was sure that he would hate them like the townspeople did.

During the conversation Aki had stayed still, regarding Mira. Now he moved, writing something down.

_You're not the only one with a strange arm, so how about we make a deal. If I show you my arm, will you show me yours?_ He asked. All of the siblings read the note before looking up at him in confusion.

"What do you mean? Your arm looks fine," Elfman asked shyly.

"He means his gloved arm," Lisanna explained to her brother before turning to Aki. "Is something wrong with your arm like Mira-nee's?"

_Sorry, but I'm not telling unless Mira is willing to._ He paused before adding. _And that doesn't mean that you should pressure her to._

Lisanna and Elfman looked at her expectantly, but Mira had no idea how to respond.

'His arm is like mine?' She wondered. The man's arm seemed perfectly normal, with no bulges or spikes like hers did. But he seemed completely serious when he had told them, as if it didn't bother him that something was wrong with his arm.

'Maybe he can teach me to live normally.' She thought hopefully. She looked up at Aki, hesitantly nodding. He smiled comfortingly before looking at all of them seriously.

_I don't tell a lot of people about this, so I want you all to promise to tell no one about it unless I say you can._ He told them.

"I promise to never tell anyone, cross my heart and hope to die!" Lisanna exclaimed, crossing her heart.

"M-me too," Elfman added shyly.

"I won't tell anyone if you don't tell anyone about mine," Mira promised him. Aki bowed his hand in thanks, putting his pen down and reaching for his glove. He slowly pulled at each of the glove's fingers, grinning as he saw Lisanna bouncing in anticipation. He slowly slid his glove off, revealing his hand.

The siblings stared in shock. The hand wasn't made of flesh or bone like they had expected, it was made of fire. The flames seemed to flow like water, running out of the sleeve and down the hand before going back up the man's arm. It acted like it wanted to burst free, to explode and burn everything around it. But it didn't, obediently keeping the shape of a hand. As they watched Aki rotated his wrist, clenching and unclenching his hand.

"How?" Mira asked, at a loss for words. She couldn't even comprehend what was happening, and her siblings were just as lost as she was. Aki grinned at their reactions, reaching for the pen with his flaming hand. She expected it to burn on contact, to catch fire and melt. But nothing happened, he picked it up like he had a normal hand and began writing.

_I usually have terrible control of my magic, but I've used it like this for so long that it's become second nature to me._ He explained.

"Oh, your a mage?" Lisanna asked excitedly, to which Aki nodded.

"That must mean you go on all sorts of cool adventures!" She exclaimed. He chuckled silently at her enthusiasm.

"How far?" Mira asked quietly, gaining his attention. "How far does it go?"

Aki gave a gentle smile, pointing to the beginning of his flaming hand. He slowly trailed his finger up his arm, going farther and farther up, until he finally stopped where his arm met his body. Lisanna gasped in shock while Elfman gave a sad frown.

"What happened?" Mira asked worriedly. For his entire actual arm to have been removed like that, something terrible must have happened. Aki gave a sad smile, shaking his head.

_It's not a story for little children._ He told them. _But that's enough about me, what about your arm Mira?_

The girl paled as she suddenly remembered his deal. He had shown them his arm, but she was still hesitant about showing him hers. What if he saw it and thought she was a demon like the townspeople?

As Aki put his glove back on, he seemed to notice her hesitation because he gave her a reassuring smile.

_No matter what it looks like, I'll do whatever I can to help you._ He promised her. Mira hesitated for a moment before slowly revealing her arm. It was covered in a black armor like cover, similar to a bug's exoskeleton. It had several spikes coming out of the forearm, pointing back towards Mira. The fingers were like claws, sharp and dangerous.

Mira expected Aki to flinch back at the sight, to look at her in horror. Instead he just nodded, as if confirming something. He reached out towards it before pausing, looking up at Mira and gesturing at it. She was so shocked at his calm reaction that she just nodded. He gently took the transformed arm, examining it and slowly testing the joints. After a minute he let it go, leaning back.

"Is Mira-nee going to be okay?" Lisanna asked worriedly. Aki gave her a comforting smile, patting her on the head.

_She's perfectly fine, there's nothing wrong with her at all._ He assured her.

"Then why, why is arm like this?" Mira demanded.

_Lisanna said that you beat the demon, but I'm guessing this is how it went. The demon was about to kill you, and you didn't want to die, to leave Elfman and Lisanna alone. Suddenly the demon disappeared, and your arm changed into what it is now._ He guessed. She stared at her in surprise.

"H-how do you know that?" She asked, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. She hadn't told anyone that, not even Lisanna and Elfman, the only one who could possibly know that would be the demon. Was Aki actually the demon in disguise?

The man seemed to notice her worry because he laughed silently.

_No, I'm not the demon._ He assured her. _I know that because I had a friend who had a similar thing happen to her. The demon's disappearance, and your arm suddenly changing are because of one simple reason. You used your magic._

"But Mira-nee doesn't have any magic," Elfman said, and Mira wanted to agree. She had never done anything magical in her life! Aki didn't agree though, shaking his head.

_She's always had the ability to use magic, but it didn't awaken until she was put into danger. Most mages learn their magic, but others accidently awaken theirs. Your magic is called Take-Over, so you can absorb, or take over, certain creatures._ He explained

"What does that do?" Lisanna asked curiously, and even Mira wanted to know.

_It depends on the user, the stronger they are, the stronger the creature they can take over. In Mira's case, she can absorb demons, like the one that attacked the village._ He told her.

"But if I used magic, why is my arm like this?" Mira asked, showing her arm.

_It's because you just unlocked your magic, so you don't know how to control it yet. Why don't you try this, imagine your arm turning back to normal, or that you want your power to go away._ He suggested.

"Will that work?" She asked hopefully. Aki gave her a uncertain look, shrugging.

_I don't know enough about Take-Over magic to be sure, but it's worth a shot._ He told her.

'What if it doesn't work?' She thought worriedly. She didn't want to be like this forever. Suddenly Lisanna and Elfman were hugging her.

"Don't worry Mira-nee, even if it doesn't work we'll stay with you," Lisanna promised her.

"We'll never leave you," Elfman said firmly.

"Thank you," She said tearfully, hugging them back. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes. She focused on the memory of her normal arm replacing the demon one, silently pleading with her magic to return her arm to normal.

"Mira-nee, look!" Lisanna cried excitedly. Mira opened her eyes, looking down at her arm. She slowly flexed her hand, staring at the normal, human, arm.

"It's fixed!" She exclaimed happily, tears building up in her eyes. After everything they had been through, all because of her arm, it was an amazing feeling to be rid of it. The siblings hugged again as she cried in relief. After a couple minutes they parted and she looked at Aki. The man was polite enough to give them space, standing at the window and looking outside. Hearing her footsteps, he turned back to her.

"Thank you Aki, thank you for everything," She said gratefully, bowing. Aki shook his head, giving her a cheerful smile.

_It was all you, I only gave you some suggestions._ He told you.

"But if you hadn't come along, I would never have known how to go back to normal," She argued.

"Mira-nee's right, you helped us so much!" Lisanna added. The man chuckled silently, simply shaking his head again. Suddenly he froze, glancing out the window. Mira was about to ask what was going on, then she heard it too. The sound of dozens of footsteps, and angry shouting.

"The townspeople are back!" Elfman cried.

"But Mira-nee's back to normal, won't they stop?" Lisanna asked. Aki crouched to look them in the eye, sadly shaking his head.

_People can be very stupid at times, once they get an idea into their head, it's almost impossible to change their mind. Even though Mira's back to normal, they'll still believe that she's a demon, no matter what you say._ He explained.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Mira asked worriedly. She didn't want her siblings to be hurt because of what happened to her. Aki frowned as he debated something for a moment.

_The best thing that you can do is to leave before anything worse happens._ He wrote before guestering to the broken window.

"B-but we don't have anywhere to go," Elfman said, fear in his voice. The man gave him a reassuring smile, ruffling his hair.

_There's a place I know, a guild named Fairy Tail. They treat everyone as family, no matter who they are, or what their magic is. You'll be safe there, and you'll have plenty of friends to count on._ He told them. Lisanna gave him a hopeful look.

"Are you sure they won't be mean to Mira-nee?" She asked. Aki smiled at her, giving her two thumbs up. The younger girl turned to Mira, giving her a pleading look.

"Can we go please, it's sounds like a perfect place for us?" She begged but Mira hesitated. This town was all they had known, to suddenly leave and go somewhere they knew nothing about was a scary idea. The sound of the villagers approaching made up her mind.

"Let's go." She decided, looking Aki in the eye. He nodded in agreement before glancing out the window. He quickly scribbled something out before tearing off the page and handing it to her. Suddenly he was gone, running down the stairs. They heard the sound of the door open before it closed just as quickly. Mira glanced down at the note, reading what he had written.

_They're almost here. I'll stall them why you grab whatever you're going to bring with you. Be fast we don't have much time._

"Alright, Lisanna, Elfman," She said, turning to them. "we need to leave quickly so only grab what you don't want to leave behind."

"You got it!" Lisanna said, running off to grab somethings.

"W-where did Aki go?" Elfman asked as he grabbed a few things.

"He said that he was going to buy time," Mira answered as she opened the closet. She grabbed a few pairs of clothes for each of them and stuffed them into a backpack. She hesitated for a moment before grabbing a picture of the three of them and put it in too. Turning, she saw that the other two each had their own things packed and ready to go. Taking a deep breath she looked at both of them.

"Let's go," She ordered, walking downstairs. Elfman and Lisanna quickly followed behind her.

"Goodbye house!" Lisanna said when they reached the first floor. Mira smiled at her sister. They had been through a lot recently, it was nice to see that her little sister was still so cheerful.

Slowly opening the front door, she peeked outside. The first thing she was was the back of Aki's cloak. He had planted himself right in front of the door, preventing anyone from getting through. Glancing past him, she saw the townspeople in a circle around him. There was a few feet of space between the man and the group, and she could see a couple of the villagers sprawled across the ground, unconscious.

"Let us through, we're getting rid of the demon once and for all!" One of them shouted but Aki didn't respond, standing completely still. As she watched, a man rushed out of the crowd, wielding a stick. Right before it hit, Aki's hand shot out, effortlessly catching the weapon. A split second later the stick shattered in his grasp, and before the villager could react, Aki chopped his neck. The man dropped to the ground, knocked out. During the entire scuffle, Aki hadn't moved from his spot.

'Wow, he's amazing.' Mira thought in wonder before shaking her head, she needed to focus.

"Aki," She said quietly. He tilted his head slightly to tell her he was listening. "we're ready to leave."

He nodded, stepping forward to let them out. Mira cautiously stepped outside, followed by Lisanna and Elfman.

"There's the demon!" A townsperson shouted, pointing at her.

"She's not a demon, she's a mage and she used her magic to beat the demon!" Lisanna argued.

"A child can't use magic! She's a demon in disguise!" Another villager exclaimed. Mira flinched at their words. Aki was right, they wouldn't listen to them. She had still hoped that they would listen, but now she knew that there was no use trying to reason with them. Suddenly a townsperson stepped forward, hurling a rock at her. Before it could hit her, a hand suddenly caught it.

Mira looked up at Aki, who was scowling angrily. As she watched, he flicked his wrist, shooting the rock back at them. It exploded on the ground, sending pieces everywhere. Some hit the townspeople and the buildings, while the rest flew towards Mira and her siblings. Suddenly Aki lifted up his cloak, protecting them from the shrapnel.

'He didn't protect himself!' She thought worriedly, looking up at him. Surprisingly he didn't look hurt, only angry. His flaming apendage seemed to be reacting to that anger as well, jerking sporadiccaly under his sleeve.

Aki suddenly grabbed his arm, closing his eyes and taking several deep breaths. After a few moments the apendage slowly calmed down, going back to looking like a normal arm. Opening his eyes, Aki crouched, pointing at Mira before motioning to his back. Understanding, she climbed onto his back, wrapping her arms around his throat. He held them for a moment, gently squeezing, before grabbing her legs and wrapping them around his body as well. Spinning around to Elfman and Lisanna he suddenly scooped them up, causing them to cry in surprise. He held each of them in one arm, turning back towards the townspeople. By now they had recovered, and were glaring at them hatefully.

"What are you going to do, there's nowhere for you to run!" One of them shouted, and Mira knew he was right. With Aki carrying all three of them, he couldn't fight his way through the crowd to escape. He didn't seem worried though, simply giving them a crooked grin. Suddenly he started running toward the group. The villagers stepped backwards in surprise before pointing their weapons at him.

Mira blinked as the townspeople suddenly disappeared, replaced with the sky and a few trees in the distance. Looking down, she saw the surprised faces of the villagers staring up at them. In front of her, she could hear Lisanna shouting with glee.

'He jumped!' She realized, shocked. As quickly as they had left the ground, they landed on it, though now they were on the other side of the crowd. Aki glanced at them for a second before he began to run. He ran so fast that Mira had to tighten her grip so she wouldn't fall off. The landscape around them seemed to blur, turning from buildings to trees in a matter of seconds.

When they left the town, Mira expected Aki to slow down, but he continued running at the same pace with no sign of slowing down. Mira quickly lost track of time, watching the world flashing before he eyes. At one point the view was too much for her and she had to bury her face in Aki's cloak or risk getting dizzy. After some time he began to slow down, eventually stopping in a clearing next to the road. He crouched down and let everyone down. Mira slid off his back, stumbling slightly at being on her feet again. Lisanna and Elfman were having the same experience, but the youngest sibling quickly recovered.

"Wow Aki, that was amazing!" She exclaimed, stars in her eyes. The man chuckled silently, flexing an arm as if showing off and making Lisanna giggle.

"How were you able to do that?" Mira asked. Aki sat down, motioning to the others to do the same as he pulled out his notebook.

_I've trained my body to it's absolute limits, making me faster, stronger, and more durable. It was a long and harrowing experience but it's paid off._ He explained.

"How strong are you?" Elfman asked as he read the message. The man's reaction was amusing to watch. His face went black for a moment before he gained a sheepish expression, scratching his cheek in embarrassment.

_Let's just say that I destroyed some things that supposedly couldn't be destroyed and leave it at that._ Was all he wrote. Lisanna giggled at his reaction as Mira and Elfman gave a small smile.

"How come we stopped, won't the villagers be able to catch up with us?" The eldest sibling asked, causing the other two to pale in fear. Surprisingly, Aki just gave a silent laugh.

_I stopped because we're almost at the next town already. We would get a lot of attention if I came running into the town like that._ He explained with a grin. All of them stared at him in shock. The closest town was a days travel, to be able to run that distance in such a short amount of time was nothing short of amazing.

"You really ran that fast?" Lisanna wondered breathlessly, the man nodding in response.

"What are we doing here?" Mira asked, focusing on the situation at hand.

_This town has the closest train station, plus I'm guessing you guys are probably pretty hungry._ He answered. On cue, three stomachs let out a collective growl. The siblings blushed in embarrassment while Aki silently laughed in amusement.

"We don't have any money on us though. We can't pay for three train tickets, much less pay for a meal," The eldest sibling pointed out, cursing the fact that she hadn't thought of bringing any food. The man shrugged as if it wasn't important.

_It's fine, I'll pay for the food and the tickets._ He wrote.

"You don't have to do that, we can take care of ourselves," Mira said but Aki shook his head.

_I'm the one who suggested leaving your village, the least I can do is take care of you._ He retorted.

"It is a long way to Magnolia," Elfman shyly pointed out. His sister shot him a look before sighing.

"Fine," She relented before fixing Aki with a firm look. "but we're going to pay you back the amount we have the chance."

The man nodded in agreement, though he did have an amused smile on his face.

"Now that that's settled, let's get something to eat!" Lisanna cheered.

**-A Few Minutes Later-**

The four of them were walking through the town, the children marveling at the new sights and sounds. Aki walked behind them, simply enjoying their excitement. Some of the townspeople were glancing at them, but Mira could tell it was more out of curiosity than anything else. She still kept her eye out anyway, some of the townspeople may be here, or have told others about her.

She started as a hand suddenly landed on her shoulder. She looked up in alarm, but she relaxed when she realized that it was only Aki. He gave her a reassuring smile, patting her shoulder comfortably. She nodded reluctantly at his silent message.

"Alright, I'll try to relax," She told him, making him grin happily. As she shook his head at his reaction, Lisanna pointed at a restaurant.

"Oh, let's go there!" She said excitedly. It was a quaint restaurant, the smell of delicious food wafting out the door and enticing them.

When they walked into the building, Mira quickly made sure that they were seated at a table with chairs instead of a booth, despite her siblings protest.

'If we need to leave quickly, this will be the easiest way.' She thought to herself. Aki seemed to know what she was thinking because he smiled softly, making sure that the other two didn't notice. It made her feel better, knowing that he knew what she was doing.

"What would you like to order?" A waitress asked, walking up to their table. They quickly gave their orders, Aki ordering steaming tea and a staggering amount of food, while the kids ordered various items off the menu. The waitress quickly jotted down their orders before slipping her pencil over her hair, turning to leave.

"By the way, your children are adorable." She commented. The reaction was interesting, to say the least. Aki choked, coughing as he tried to begin breathing again. Mira looked shocked, after being called a monster for so long, it was strange to suddenly be called adorable. Lisanna and Elfman were both blushing, Elfman because he had been called adorable and Lisanna because the waitress thought they were Aki's kids.

"Thank you waitress-san, but he's actually our friend," Lisanna spoke up, always the first to recover.

"Oh, my mistake!" The waitress apologized. "I thought since you were traveling together…"

"It's okay! Aki saved us from some bad people and now he's taking us to Fairy Tail!" The youngest sibling exclaimed happily. The woman's eyebrows rose in surprise as she turned to Aki.

"Well, aren't you a little hero," She said with a teasing smile. The man scratched his cheek in embarrassment, a small blush on his cheeks. The waitress laughed, walking away.

"Let me get your orders ready," She said, throwing a wink behind her. Aki's blush immediately intensified, spreading all the way to his neck.

"What's wrong Aki-san?" Elfman asked innocently.

"He's embarrassed of course!" Lisanna told her brother. The redhead blushed even further, trying to sink into his cloak.

"Both of you, stop it," Mira scolded them before turning to Aki. "I'm sorry they embarrassed you." The man shook his head, giving her a reassuring smile. The oldest Strauss frowned, but nodded.

She couldn't understand her family's savior. He was definitely strong, she had seen that with her own eyes, but he didn't really use it. He could have fought the villagers, or used his magic to scare them, but he chose to run away instead. Thinking back further, she realized that he could have easily broken through the door to their house and done whatever he wanted. Instead though, he was polite and had waited to come in until Lisanna had opened the door for him.

His behavior was strange too. When he had been dealing with the villagers, he had been serious and intimidating. But when he was with the Strausses, he was a completely different person, shifting from a kind adult to acting like a goofy kid in seconds. She didn't mind how he behaved, she actually like it somewhat, it was just… different.

Their food was soon served, with the waitress throwing another wink and Aki blushing again, and they quickly dug in. They had been eating for a few minutes when the peace was suddenly shattered by screams of fear.

Mira automatically hid her formally corrupted arm under her cloak, thinking it was directed at her. It took her a moment to realize that the screams were coming from outside, and they were accompanied by the shouts and the sound of objects being broken. Looking out the window, she saw a group of thirty something men wreaking havoc down the street. They were pillaging stores, smashing stalls and windows, and were even going into people's homes. The two things that stood out the most to Mira though, was the fact that they were using magic, and that they all bore the same mark.

'A dark guild.' Mira realized with horror. These men were the worst of the worst, and they were headed right towards her and her siblings!

Mira turned as she felt Aki stand up. He had a grim expression as he looked outside. Without looking at the siblings, he pushed his hand downward, giving them a silent message.

_Stay_.

"Wait, where are you going? We should be running away from them! At least-" Mira abruptly stopped as Aki turned to look at her. His gaze was hard an unwavering, and the very strength of it rooted her in place.

She barely noticed as he repeated the motion from earlier before walking out of the restaurant. She didn't come out of her daze until Lisanna suddenly let out a gasp.

"Aki-san is going to fight the bad guys!" She exclaimed worriedly. The other two siblings looked out the window and sure enough, the redhead was headed straight for the dark guild members.

"H-he's going to get hurt!" Elfman said, Mira couldn't help but agree with him. It was one thing to scare a crowd of villagers, but to take on a whole dark guild? She knew Aki was strong, but she didn't think even he could win.

"What should we do Mira-nee?" Lisanna asked, trying her best to hide her fear. The older sister immediately wanted to say that they should run, but then she remembered Aki's powerful gaze. He had wanted them to stay, as if he knew he would win. And besides, if she ignored him and ran away, they had no one to help them or take care of them.

"We do what he says and stay here," She finally decided. The other two looked worried but nodded in agreement, they would follow their big sister's example. So the three of them sat there, looking out the window as Aki calmly walked towards the dark guild.

**-Outside-**

"Loot the stores, destroy their houses, burn this town to the ground! Show them the power of the Red Lotus guild!" A man shouted. His name was Frank, and along with the lame name, he looked like the usual cliche villain. He was large and muscular, with short hair and a wicked sneer on his face. All around him his men ran rampant. They usually only attacked travelers and small villages, but with their rising power, he had decided it was time to take it to the next level.

"Boss, look! Some dumbass is walking right towards us!" One of his men called, pointing down the street. The street was deserted by now, so Frank had no trouble spotting the stranger.

He wore a cloak that covered everything except his face and his blood red hair. Frank would have laughed at the man's stupidity, but his expression gave Frank pause. The newcomer had a flat look, as if he wasn't scared, or even angry, at the dark guild. He looked resigned if anything else, like he didn't want to fight, but his steely gaze showed he was more than willing to. Frank quickly waved aside his thoughts about the stranger, he was one man, he was no match against an entire guild.

"It seems he has a death wish, grant it for him," He told his subordinate from earlier. The man gave a nasty grin, walking forward to meet the stranger. Frank turned back to the rest of his men, thinking his lacket could handle the new comer.

Because of that, he didn't see what happened. He heard it though, a cry of surprise before it was cut off by the sound of stone breaking. Frank and several of his men, who had also heard the noise, turned to see what happened. The stranger was still walking towards them, and behind him was the unconscious form of Frank's henchman, slammed into the ground so hard it had broken the stone street.

"I-Impossible," Frank muttered. His subordinate hadn't been the strongest of mages, but he still should have been able to take care of one man, especially one who hadn't even used any magic. The guild master growled in annoyance, motioning to the three of his men.

"Deal with himm" He ordered. They nodded, charging the cloaked man with swords they had summoned with requip magic. The stranger watched as they approached, patiently waiting until they attacked.

"Die!" The first man shouted, coming at him with an overhead swing. At the last second, the newcomer moved, stepping out of the way of the attack. As the sword flew past him, he swung his arm, clotheslining the man. Before his opponent had even hit the ground, he was moving to his next foe.

The next one attacked with a diagonal slash, but it was as useless as the first attack. The redhead simply leaned to the side, letting the sword whistle past his head. Before the dark mage could even recover, the stranger buried a fist in his gut. As his foe crumpled to the ground, the cloaked man turned to his last opponent.

The dark mage took a step back, his whole body shaking in fear. After a moment he managed to muster his courage, charging with his sword overhead, his fear making him forget what had happened to the first man.

This time though, the stranger didn't try to dodge it. Instead he reached up and caught the blade with his bare hand. Well, _hand_ would be the wrong word. He held it between his fingers, razor sharp nails, almost like claws, piercing the metal.

With a simple flex of his muscles, the blade shattered in his grasp. The dark mage stared at the remains of his sword in horror. He managed to tear his eyes away from it just in time to see a fist slam into his face.

The force of the blow sent the man flying back, his guildmates stepping out of the way as he slammed into the ground in the middle of them. They all looked at him before turning to the redhead, many of them with looks akin to fear.

"W-who are you? What do you want?" Frank stammered, trying to hide his own unease. The stranger didn't reply, simply looking at them with a steely gaze.

"Answer me damnit!" The guild master exclaimed, the tension of the situation getting to him. The man opposite was still for a moment before slowly reaching up and tapping his throat, something that took Frank a moment to understand.

"You're mute?!" He asked in disbelief before guffawing in amusement. "You hear that boys? This guy can't say a damn thing!"

Despite the situation, several of his men laughed with him. The redhead didn't react to their laughter other than rolling his eyes and letting out a silent sigh. It was obvious that he was used to the taunting. Either that, or he was thinking about the idiocy of Frank's statement.

"So Mute, what do you think you're trying to accomplish roughing up some of my men?" The aforementioned man asked, recovering some of his courage after finding out his foe's disability.

The stranger pointed at the group before jerking his thumb over his shoulder. Thankfully Frank was quicker in deciphering the message this time around.

"You want us to leave?" He asked, laughing when the silent man nodded. "What are you going to do if we say no?"

For the first time since Frank had laid eyes on the stranger, the man's expression changed. An excited grin slowly spread across his face, revealing a pair of wicked looking fangs. His eyes gleamed in anticipation, and the guild master could swear he saw the man's pupils morph into slits. With practiced ease, the redhead took off his cloak, letting it fall to the ground as he cracked the knuckles of his bare hand.

His appearance gave the dark guild pause, several of them shifting nervously. Even Frank was intimidated by the sight, it reminded of him of a predator waiting for his prey to scamper from cover. Finally, mustering up his courage, he pointed at the redhead.

"You may have been able to defeat some of my men, but they only used swords. Let's see how you fair against magic!" He shouted, launching a blast of magic, several of his men following his example a moment later. The last the guild master saw of the redhead, right before the magic slammed into him, was him raising his arms to defend himself.

The rest of the attack quickly followed behind, causing a mix of explosions and dust.

"That sure got him boss!" One of Frank's men exclaimed, several others cheering in agreement.

"That's what happens when you cross the Red Lotus guild!" The guild master said, laughing. Their good humor quickly died out though, as the smoke blew away and revealed their foe.

Not only was he still standing, he hadn't moved an inch. He was completely unscathed, the only sign that he had been attacked was that his cloak was a little more tattered than it had been earlier.

"Impossible, we hit him with our strongest attacks!" Someone shouted.

"W-who the hell is he?" Someone else muttered. Everyone was nervous now, they had expected a few Rune Knights, but not someone like this.

"Quit your cowering! He's one man, and we're and entire guild! Attack!" Frank commanded, pointing forward. There was a moment of hesitation before all surged forward, shouting and screaming.

The man slowly lowered his arms, cracking his neck as he watched the group charge at him. He took a step forward, then another, and another, until he was running towards them.

Several of the dark mages hurled attacks at their oncoming foe, but this time he didn't bother taking them. Instead he weaved through the attacks like they weren't even there.

Finally the two sides met, and all hell broke loose. The redhead quickly started tearing his way through their ranks, knocking men out with one hit and throwing them around like they were ragdolls.

He seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, because whenever they tried to attack him with magic, weapons, or even their fists, he always dodged out of the way, and they usually ended up hitting their own men in the process.

The rare occurrences when someone managed to get a lucky shot on him did nothing to stop his assault. He would simply shrug of the blow and knock out the attacker before moving on.

In about half an hour later, it was over. All the members of Red Lotus were either unconscious, or in too much pain to get back up. Their guild master was the only one still standing, but it was obvious that he wouldn't be for much longer.

"S-s-stay back!" He exclaimed, stumbling back in a pitiful attempt to get away from this man, this monster, that had single handedly wiped out an entire guild. In a last, desperate attempt to stop the approaching figure, he fired a blast of magic using every ounce of power he had. He watched in horror as the stranger casually batted it aside, not even bothering to look as it exploded behind him.

The dark mage tried to attack again, but with a sudden burst of speed, the redhead closed the gap between the two. His gloved hand grabbed Frank's shirt, lifting him high into the air. The guild master twisted and writhed in an attempt to escape, but it was no use.

"N-no, please," He gasped. His captor's eyes were like a snakes, cold and dispassionate. As he watched, the stranger's nails slowly turned into razor sharp claws.

"Please, I'll do anything," The dark mage begged, but the redhead didn't care, there would be no forgiveness. The man slowly brought his arm back, ready to plunge his claws into the guild master and end is miserable life.

Suddenly he paused, blinking in surprised. He glanced behind him for a moment before turning back to his captive. He seemed to have and internal debate for a moment, then he slowly sheathed his claws.

Before the dark mage could thank him for sparing his life, the stranger suddenly punched him, hard. Right before Frank faded into unconsciousness, he heard some children calling for 'Aki'.

**-POV Break-**

The Strauss siblings stared in open mouthed astonishment. They had just seen Aki single handedly beat down the entire guild, but they still couldn't believe it. They knew he was strong when he had protected them from the villagers, but this, this was something else.

Mira wanted to slap herself for doubting him. She had seen him break a stone with his bare hand, and he had managed to run all the way to another town without stopping, while carrying her and her siblings! She had what he could do, but she had still thought he would lose. Yet her he was, with the guild members scattered on the ground around him and their master within Aki's grasp.

Looking closer, she realized that something seemed off. The dark mage had a scared look on his face, and he kept trying to wriggle free. Aki didn't seem to react to his struggling, simply pulling his arm back a little. Mira couldn't see his hand, but she felt like Aki was about to punch him, which made no sense. He had already defeated the guild master, why was he going to keep attacking him?

"Lisanna wait!" Elfman suddenly called. Mira's head spun so fast, she almost got whiplash. The youngest sibling had left her spot at the window and was running out the door.

"Lisanna, stop!" Mira called, her and her brother chasing after her. As they ran out of the restaurant, even though he was all the way down the street, Aki seemed to hear them.

He turned his head a fraction of an inch, glancing at them. After a second, he looked back at the dark mage, lowering his arm. There was another pause, and then Aki socked the man in the face.

"Aki, that was amazing!" Lisanna called, running up as the guild master fell unconscious. The redhead unceremoniously dropped him, turning to face the young girl. To her credit, she didn't seem bothered by the group of injured and unconscious men.

Aki gave her a stern look as she ran up, making her pause.

"What's wrong Aki?" She asked. The man looked at her before pointing back at the restaurant and then gesturing to the men around him. She quickly understood what he was trying to say, and just as quickly gained a sheepish expression.

"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you Aki, but you had beaten everyone and you just looked so awesome!" She apologized. He gave her another hard look before his features softened and he gave her a small smile.

"Lisanna," Mira called as she and Elfman caught up to her. "You shouldn't have run out like that!"

"I'm sorry Mira-nee, I just got caught up in the excitement!" The youngest sibling apologized, looking at the ground. She looked up a moment later when Aki rested a hand on her head, giving the other two a reassuring smile.

"It is not alright, she could have been hurt!" Mira exclaimed. Aki blinked in surprise before giving her a blinding smile, confusing her. Here she was, scolding him for letting her sister off the hook, and he was smiling? Lisanna was the one that explained it to her.

"He's happy because you understood him so well!" She said cheerfully. Mira looked at Aki curiously, who was still giving her that thousand watt-grin. She had just met him, but she already understood his spoken language. It was a nice feeling, knowing that she understood him, sort of like how he understood her.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Someone suddenly said. They all turned to see an older woman approach them, a small group of people behind her. "I'm the mayor of this town, and I wanted to thank you for saving us from these men."

Aki gave a small bow before pulling out his notebook.

_I was just doing the right thing._ He wrote. It the mayor was surprised he was mute, she didn't show it.

"Still, our town would have no doubt been destroyed if you hadn't been here. And because of that, as mayor of this town, I'd like to give you a reward," She said. To everyone's surprise, Aki shook his head.

_Thank you, but you need that money to rebuild the houses they destroyed._ He explained. The mayor frowned at his rejection, but it was obvious that he was right.

"Let us at least show you our appreciation in someway," She protested. He thought for a moment before nodding, as if he had thought of something. He quickly jotted something down, showing it so Mira couldn't see it. The woman read it before looking back at him, her expression somewhat nervous.

"Are you sure? The dark guild…" She said uncertainly. Aki smiled reassuringly, writing something else in his notebook. Whatever it said seemed to ease her because he smiled at him.

"Thank you for taking the time to help us, I'll send word ahead for when you are ready to leave," She said. The redhead nodded before turning to the Strausses.

_You should head back and finish your lunch. _He wrote.

"What about you?" Lisanna asked. Aki ruffled her hair affectionately, making her smile brightly.

_I had enough to eat, and someone has to watch over these criminals._ He explained.

"And afterwards we can head to Fairy Tail?" Mira asked hopefully, to which Aki nodded.

"Yay! Let's go!" Lisanna said cheerfully.

The children quickly returned to the restaurant, wanting to see their new home as soon as possible. Their food was cold by then, but the waitress was nice enough to reheat it for them.

"Aki was amazing!" Lisanna exclaimed, acting out the fight. "He went bif, bam, pow!"

"Lisanna, don't wave you utensils around," Mira scolded her.

"Aki was amazing though," Elfman agreed quietly.

"He is pretty strong," The eldest sister conceded.

"Not just strong, super duper strong!" Her sister said, and Mira had to agree. She had never seen mages fight, but she doubted that normal mages could take out an entire dark guild without using their magic. It made her wonder just how powerful Aki really was.

'That's probably why he doesn't use his magic.' She realized. 'He said he has terrible control, if he used it against the dark guild, he might have destroyed something. Maybe even the entire town!'

She had no illusion that he couldn't do it, if he could keep use his magic to form an arm for a whole day, then he could absolutely pull off something like that.

The three of them quickly finished up their meals, and just as they were about to go, Mira realized something.

"We don't have any money!" She exclaimed worriedly.

"Aki said that he would pay," Elfman reminded her.

"We can just go out and ask him for it," Lisanna pointed out.

"But that's rude!" Mira said. She was still a child, but she knew asking someone for money wasn't something you did.

"Don't worry about money," The waitress said as she walked up to them. "Your meal's free."

"Are you sure?" The eldest Strauss asked.

"Of course! It's the least I can do after what your… friend did for us," The woman replied, blushing a little at the mention of Aki. Mira raised an eyebrow at her reaction, it seemed that the woman had become somewhat infatuated with the redhead.

'I hope that doesn't happen very often.' The white haired girl thought, imagining a horde of girls trying to get Aki's attention.

"Anyway,' The waitress said hurriedly. 'You should move along. You don't want to keep your friend waiting."

"Right!" Lisanna exclaimed. "He's waiting for us!"

The siblings quickly thanked the woman and hurried outside. Aki was where they had left him, leaning against a wall as he kept on eye on the dark mages.

Someone had brought several pieces of rope and tied up all the criminals, but the redhead was still making sure they were knocked out.

As the Strauss siblings approached, Aki got off the wall and smiled at them, rubbing his stomach and tilting his head questioningly.

"Yep, it was delicious!" Lisanna said as they ran up to him. The man smiled happily before suddenly blinking in surprise, reaching to one of his pockets panicky.

"It's fine, the waitress said that we eat for free since you saved the town," Mira said before he could pull out his wallet. Aki blinked again before giving a relieved grin. Before Mira could tell him about the waitress blushing, the mayor walked up to them.

"Everything you asked for is ready. Are you sure there isn't anything else we can do for you?" She asked. Aki shook his head, writing something. The mayor nodded, but looked somewhat nervous.

"Please be quick, the rune knights should be here in a day or so, but I still worry." She asked. The redhead grew serious, nodding a silent promise.

Taking another once over of the knocked out mages, he started walking towards the train station, motioning to the siblings.

"What about the dark guild, what if they wake up after we leave?" Elfman asked as they followed him, voicing his sister's thoughts. For once Aki didn't reply, simply continuing his trek to the station. The Strausses looked between each other in confusion, the man wasn't the type of person to leave a bunch of criminals without someone watching them, so why was he just leaving them?

"Aki?" Mira asked, but he still didn't say anything. They walked into silence until they reached the train station, where the redhead approached the ticket booth. The man seemed to recognise Aki because he quickly began to scramble around the booth.

"Ah, Aki-san! The train is just about to leave, and here are your bags!" He said hurriedly, passing two knapsacks over to the mage. Aki nodded, smiling in thanks to the man.

Turning to the Strauss siblings, he crouched so that he could look them in the eye. To their confusion, he gave one of the bags to Mira before writing in his notebook.

_The train won't reach Magnolia because it doesn't have a train station, but it does pass through the closest city that has one. It's only a day's walk from there to Magnolia, and there's enough food in the pack to last you a few days. _He explained to them. Lisanna's eyes widened in surprise, and a mix of fear.

"You mean you aren't coming with us?" She asked, her voice trembling. Aki gave a small smile, rubbing her head comfortingly.

_I need to keep the dark guild detained until the rune knights can take them away, and I don't want to keep you waiting any longer than I need to._ He said.

"We don't mind waiting! Please, come with us!" Elfman pleaded, but the redhead shook his head.

_I need to be somewhere very soon, and I've already spent a lot of time here. I wanted to take you to Fairy Tail myself, but the rune knights are going to take a full day to arrive and I need to make up that time as soon as possible. If I wait any longer than a lot of people could be hurt._ He explained. Mira's hands bunched into fists.

"So you're saying we're a waste of time?!" She demanded.

"Mira-nee, that's not true!" Lisanna exclaimed, but the older girl ignored her, focusing on Aki.

At her words, the man had grown hard and unwavering, just like in the restaurant. This time though, Mira didn't back down. She had to know the truth.

The one man who had seen that she wasn't the monster the villager had made her out to be, the man that had helped her return to normal and had rescued her and her siblings, was now abandoning them.

It hurt more than she thought it could, it made her chest tighten and her eyes to sting with tears. He had saved them and had taken care of them, and now he was just dumping them off like pieces of luggage?

_Never, _never_, think that you are a waste of time. You needed my help, and even if it meant fighting an entire army, I still would have helped you. _He wrote furiously, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Why? Why would you help us like that? You don't know us, you don't know anything about us! What reason could you have to stop and help us?" Mira demanded. She could feel tears roll down her cheeks, but she didn't care.

Aki's expressioned softened as he saw her tears, gently reaching and wiping them away with his ungloved hand. He wrote out another message, but this time he gave his notebook to her for her to read. Instead of the explanation she wanted, it only had a short and simple message.

_Why do I need a reason to help you?_

That was too much for Mira. Bursting into tears, she tackled Aki with a hug. She could feel the man stumble for a moment, surprised by the action, but a moment later he wrapped an arm around her in a tight embrace.

"Please don't leave," She pleaded. "I don't want you to go."

Aki just hugged her a little tighter, stroking her hair comfortingly with his free hand. A moment later she felt two pairs of smaller arms join in the embrace. She didn't need to look to know that her siblings were crying as well.

After a few moments they all separated. Mira thought she saw Aki's eyes water slightly, but then he blinked and it was gone.

_I have another reason to help you now though._ He added.

"What is is?" Elfman asked with wide eyes. The redhead smiled brightly at all of them.

_We're going to be family soon._ He wrote, making them stare at him.

"What do you mean? Are you going to adopt us?" Lisanna asked hopefully.

_Not quite. Remember what I said about Fairy Tail treating it's members like family?_ He waited until they nodded before continuing. _Well, I'm going to be joining soon, so that will make us family!_

"Do you promise?" Mira asked. She didn't want to get her hopes up just to find out that he just abandoned them. He nodded, raising seven fingers, and then two.

"Fine, two weeks, and that's it," She said, making Aki smirk in amusement.

They all hugged again, and then the redhead helped the Strauss siblings bored the train. As it pulled it out of the station, the children waved until they couldn't see Aki anymore.

**-A Couple Days Later-**

It was a usual day in Fairy Tail, meaning that it was chaos. Everyone was partying, drinking, and generally having a good time. The guild master, Makarov Dreyar, was sitting on the bar counter, laughing and drinking from a mug that didn't match his short stature.

Suddenly the doors to the guild slowly swung open, drawing a lot of the guild members' attention. Makarov stopped drinking to observe the newcomers.

There were three of them, and surprisingly they were children, two girls and one boy. They all had white hair, and only had two bags between them. The eldest one had a cloak on, hiding her from the neck down. The most important thing that he noticed was that they were nervous, as if unsure if they should be here.

"Can I help you?" He called to them. The younger two jumped at his voice, but the older one was more prepared, focusing on him. She started walking towards him, the other two quickly following behind her. She waited until she was in front of the old man before she said anything.

"Are you the master of Fairy Tail?" She asked quietly. Makarov nodded, giving her a warm smile.

"Yes, my name is Makarov. What can I do for you children?" He asked politely. The older sibling hesitated for a moment, as if worried that he might say no to whatever she was about to say.

"We want to join your guild!" The younger sister suddenly exclaimed. To his credit, the master only raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"While I'm not against it, what do your parents think?" He asked curiously. He realized he touched upon a sore spot when they flinched a little.

"We don't have any parents," The elder sibling said quietly. "That's why we want to come here. Someone told us that we could find a home here. And having magic isn't an issue!" She carried on before Makarov could say anything. "I can do take over magic and I can go on jobs and-"

She stopped as the master raised a hand. He considered them for a moment before speaking.

"Whether or not you can do magic isn't a problem. Here, everyone is family," He said before breaking into a large smile. "So I want to officially welcome you to Fairy Tail!"

The entire guild exploded into cheers as the siblings stared at him in shock. Eventually the younger sister started crying, hugging her siblings.

"He was right, we can stay!" She exclaimed happily.

Makarov smiled kindly. Many of the people who came to Fairy Tail were trying to escape hardship, and to have the chance at a new life. To see these children so happy to be here, showed how much they had been through. It made him wonder though…

"Children,' He said, gaining their attention. 'If you don't mind me asking, who told you about Fairy Tail?"

They glanced between each other before the younger sibling answered.

"His name's Aki!"

**Okay, just in case you guys didn't catch it I wanted to mention that the arm Aki is missing is the one that had his guild mark. Just wanted to say that in case some people didn't realize that. Until next time!**


	5. The Tower Burns

**Uzu: **You ask and I provide

**Fireshifter:** Hey! I thought I'd reply to your reviews, not just your PM's. I'm glad you're enjoying the story so much, especially how Aki interacted with Mira. I'm trying to have him have an active role in helping the kids grow. And as for what Zeref has to gain from this… you'll just have to wait and see.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"_Natsu, I've always known that you would become stronger than me one day, and you did that a long time ago. You used that strength to beat anyone and anything in your path, no matter how big or strong they may be. It worked because I was able to protect Fairy Tail while you fought our enemies. But now that I'm gone, it's up to you to protect the guild. It'll be hard at first, with everyone looking up to you and expecting you to have all of the answers, but I know that you can do it."_

"_Erza... Erza!"_

"_She's gone Natsu."_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Natsu, no, Aki, slowly opened his eyes, the phantoms from his nightmares dancing across his vision until he blinked them away. He stayed where he was for a moment, simply looking up at what he knew as the Tower of Heaven.

It had been a few days since he had sent the Strauss siblings on their way. It had been nice to see them again, and Gray as well. Unfortunately he couldn't tell them who he really was, not with his present self showing up soon.

Because of that he had been forced to disguise himself, though it wasn't that hard to do, all he had to do was hide his shocking pink hair. Thankfully he had remembered that dye lacrimas were a thing. It was a simple yet clever device, just run the lacrima across your hair and it dyed it the color of the lacrima.

Of course he hadn't had any money when he had crossed over, mainly because there had been no use of it in his time. Luckily though, some bandits had thought that he would be an easy score. After knocking them out, he had picked their pockets, leaving him with enough money to buy the lacrima and some meals for the next week.

Afterwards he had head out, first going to Gray and then making his way across Fiore towards the Tower of Heaven. It had been another stroke of luck that he had run into the Strauss siblings. He knew the village that they used to live in, he just hadn't been sure of the exact location.

After saving them, he had meant to take them to Magnolia and leave them at the edge so they could make their way to Fairy Tail. He wasn't quite ready to see his guild again, not when some of his family weren't there.

Unfortunately his plans had been derailed when the Red Lotus guild had attacked. He had been forced to wait almost an entire day for the rune knights to show up, constantly knocking out the dark mages when they woke up.

Once the knights had finally shown up, he had accepted their thanks, answered their questions, and then left. Afterwards he had been forced to double his speed to make up for lost time. Reaching the coast had been easy enough, it had been finding the tower again that been the difficulty.

He had been able to find it the first time by following Erza's scent, but he didn't want to draw attention to himself by going to the resort. So instead he had been forced to circle around the coast and estimate where the tower was. Afterwards it was just a matter of leaving his pack and notebook behind and just start swimming.

It seemed that like his memory was better than he gave it credit for, because after a few hours of swimming he came across the tower.

It was a dark and foreboding place, a half built monstrosity on top of a rocky and secluded island. Inside was an army of cultists, keeping an even larger army of slaves, who were forced to work to the death on the cultist's special project, the R-System.

It had been easy to sneak onto the island, because he encountered no one during his trek. It seemed that they weren't too worried about someone trying to break in.

'That's because they're making sure that no one breaks out.' He thought, his anger billowing to the surface like an oncoming storm. He had heard from Erza what it was like to be a slave there, to be worked to the bone with little to no food, to be beaten within an inch of your life if you didn't comply, and what happened to those who tried to escape.

He let out a silent growl as the memories drifted to the surface. He didn't realize what was happening until he felt his gloved hand suddenly jerk. Looking down, he saw his flame prosthetic twisting and writhing in it's sleeve, begging to escape it's confines.

Forcing his temper down, he reached for his glove. He jerked it off in one smooth motion, but instead of the burning hand that was usually there, there was only a wisp of fire, quickly dying out. His entire arm seemed to deflate as he killed the magic, leaving his sleeve flapping in the wind.

While his arm wasn't part of the conditions that he told Ur about, since it was so easy to maintain, it could still rage out of control if he didn't keep a grip on his emotions. He had started to lose control when the villagers had called Mira a demon, but he had managed to calm himself down.

Now though, there was no way that he was going to stay calm once he got inside the Tower, and he didn't want to risk hurting the slaves. Thankfully, even if his emotions were in utter turmoil, as long as he didn't use his magic, the chances of him losing control of his powers were slim to none.

That didn't mean that the cultists would escape with their lives. Grinning savagely, he let his nails turn razor sharp, perfect for ripping someone's throat out.

The cultists made this place a living hell? He would show them what it was like when a demon came to visit.

**-Inside the Tower-**

"You're lucky that your friend was willing to take your place," A cultist said as he threw Erza into a cell. Within a second her friends were by her side, helping her to her feet.

"What are you going to do with him?!" She demanded. The man shrugged in indifference.

"Who knows, but he's never coming back, that's for sure," He said with a cruel smile.

"Give him back!" Millianna exclaimed, rushing the cultist. Thankfully Rob managed to stop her before she could go through with it.

Erza's clenched her hands into fists. If only she could do something, if only she was strong enough to fight back. Her eyes lit upon a shovel nearby. If she could get her hands on it…

Before she could muster up the courage to act, there was a sudden boom, and the entire tower seemed to shake. There were shouts of alarm as the cultists below rushed to thr source of the noise.

The shouts quickly dissolved into blasts of magic, cries of pain, and worst of all, screams of terror. It sent shivers down her spine. It sounded like a monster was tearing it's way through the tower, killing anyone in it's way.

Suddenly everything went quiet, the screams, the fighting, everything suddenly went silent.

'What happened to the cultists?' Erza asked herself. She had an idea, but she didn't want to think about it.

Suddenly the building was filled with the sound of screeching metal, as if it was being torn apart, followed by the sound of something large crashing against the ground. There was another pause, and all of a sudden the sound of cheering echoed throughout the tower. Rob was the first one to realize what was happening.

"The slaves are being freed," He said breathlessly. The children stared at him in shock, but the shouting and cheering that were only growing louder proved him right.

"Impossible!" The cultist exclaimed, backing away from the entrance, as if afraid of the monster below. Erza pulled her eyes from the entrance to look at the shovel from earlier.

Without thinking, she grabbed it and swung it at the cultist's head as hard as she could. Surprisingly it worked. The blow slammed into his head, sending to the ground, unconscious.

Erza turned to the others, who were staring at her in shock.

"Come on! This may be our only chance to escape!" She told them.

"She's right children, let's go," Rob urged them. The others snapped out of their daze, quickly following behind him.

They ran out of the cell, out onto a walkway that overlooked the floor of the tower. Down below, they could see the other slaves fighting the cultists, using shovels, pickaxes, and even pieces of wood. She couldn't see much from this distance, but she could see the bodies of both slaves and cultists, though there were more cultists on the ground than prisoners. And there, tearing through the cultists like they were nothing, was a red-haired figure.

'The monster.' Erza realized. His hair was just as red as hers, matching the red splotches dotting the ground, pooling from the bodies of the cultists. Blood, she realized numbly.

"All of you, back in your cell!" Someone suddenly shouted. Erza turned to see a group of cultists coming towards them. Erza tightened her grip on her shovel, she wouldn't go back in there, never again.

With a cry, she charged the guards. Luckily the guards were surprised to have a child attack them, so she was able to hit one in the knee before they could react. She followed up with a blow to his chin, knocking him out.

Before she could do anything else, one of the cultists slammed her with his staff. She fell to the ground with a cry, dropping her shovel in the process. Her vision spun as she tried to stand up, only to fall back down again.

"You dare attack on of us?!" The cultist demanded. "You'll wish you were dead once we finish with you!" He aimed his staff at her, preparing to blast her with his magic. Erza was still too dazed to do anything but look at the impending attack.

'At least I died fighting for my freedom.' She thought sadly. Suddenly a figure jumped forward, standing between her and the cultist.

"Rob!" She cried.

"Run children! Get to the others and escape!" He ordered, spreading out his arms to protect them from the cultists.

"Foolish old man, die!" The guard exclaimed, blasting a ball of magic at the other man.

"No!" Erza shouted.

There was a massive explosion, hiding Rob and the cultists in a cloud of smoke. The redhead covered her mouth with her hands, tears trailing down her cheeks. First Jellal was captured, and now Rob was dead!

"Erza, look!" Simon exclaimed, pointing at the smoke. The girl's head shot up to see the cloud slowly dissipating, revealing the man completely unharmed. Standing between Rob and the cultists was the red-haired man, his back to the cultists as he had one arm spread out.

'The monster, he protected Rob!' Erza realized in shock. The arm that was outstretched was bare, with blood dripping off his claw like nails, while his sleeved arm hung limp at his side.

"H-how did he get up here so fast?" Sho stuttered. "It's five stories high!"

The monster must of heard him because his eyes shot to the boy, making him squeak in fear. The redhead looked at him for a moment before flicking over to look at Erza.

She gulped as he looked at her, his gaze was cold and harsh, like a winter wind. At the same time though, she saw a burning fury, a rage that was barely kept at bay.

The monster looked at her for another few seconds until the cultists grew impatient.

"You're the one that's setting all the slaves free, you'll pay for that!" One of them shouted, rushing him. As he brought his staff down, the redhead struck.

Spinning, he batted the staff to the side before slamming his hand into the cultists throat. As he kneeled forward, choking, the monster wrapped an arm around his neck. Without even looking, the redhead broke his neck with a loud snap.

The other children gasped in a mix of shock and horror, but all Erza could do was stare as the man glanced at her again. The anger was still there, but it had changed, it was… warmer.

'He's angry for us.' She realized in shock. This man wasn't killing because he could, or because he found enjoyment in it, he was killing them for their sakes.

The man must have seen what he wanted to, because he focused back on the cultists. They had been just as startled as the children had been, but they recovered much quicker.

"Kill him!" One of the guards shouted. The group didn't hesitate, firing all of their staffs at him. Erza thought that the monster would dodge them, or fight them with his own magic, if he had one, but he didn't. He just walked towards the cultists, shrugging off the attacks like they were nothing.

Then he was upon them, a red flash of death. A quick swipe across the first man's neck, and the redhead was already moving on. The cultist slowly crumpled to the ground, gurgling, as four parallel lines across his neck slowly turned red.

The monster rushed the second one, crouching low. The cultist tried to blast him, but it was pointless. Reaching him, the redhead thrust his palm up and into the other man's chin. The guard's head shot up, breaking his neck instantly.

The last two cultists stepped back in fear, their earlier bravado gone in the wake of their comrade's deaths. Mustering up their courage, they charged the redhead. The monster met them halfway, grabbing one by the face and slamming him into the wall so hard that the cultist was stuck in the wall.

The second one tried to attack him from behind, but before he could, Erza picked up her shovel and hit him from behind. As the man hit the ground, the monster spun around, ready for an attack.

His eyes locked with Erza's, his gaze searching. His eyes flickered to the unconscious cultist before looking back at her. Suddenly he smiled, he _smiled_, at her. It was like he was proud that she had decided to fight, and for some reason she smiled back at him.

"E-Erza-nee?" Millianna called, her voice shaking. The older girl turned to her, looking at her friend. It took the redhead a moment to realize that the younger girl wasn't looking at her, but at the man next to her.

'She's scared of him.' Erza realized in surprise. They had seen people die before, other slaves died every day, the only difference here was that the cultists were the ones that had died, and that they had been killed in a fight.

"It's okay, he's here to help!" She told Millianna and the others. Next to her the monster, no, he was just a man now, nodded in agreement. The other children didn't seem to believe him, but Rob walked up to the other man.

"Thank you for saving the children and I," He said, offering his hand, making sure to offer his left one. The redheaded man shook it, nodding his head in response. Rob hesitated for a moment before continuing.

"If I may ask, how did you find out about this place?" He asked. Instead of replying, the stranger gave a rueful smile, tapping his throat.

"Ah, I see." The older man said understandingly. "We can talk later then. Are you going to free the other slaves?"

The redhead nodded seriously, kneeling down and searching one of the guards. Pulling out a ring of keys, he tossed them to Rob, who caught them with a confused expression. The stranger pointed to the other man and pointed down before pointed to himself and then up.

"We can probably unlock all of the cells down there, but what about you? You can't possibly expect to fight all of the guards waiting for you upstairs." Rob protested. The redhead simply gave an excited grin, grabbing himself his own ring of keys before he turned to go.

"Wait!" Erza exclaimed. He paused, turning to look at her with a curious look. "Jellal, they took him to the top of the tower. Please, save him!"

He looked at her for another moment before nodding. He turned to go again, before blinking, as if remembering something. He pointed to the cuffs around Rob's wrists, before gesturing upward. Confused, the older man did what the redhead asked.

Grabbing the one of the cuffs in his claws, he crushed it in his grasp, before proceeding to do the same thing with the other one. Rob stared at the destroyed cuffs in shock before looking up at the man.

"Thank you, we may just be able to win now." He said. The stranger gave a knowing smirk before running off.

"Come children, the others need us," Rob told them, herding them down. As Erza started unlocking the other cells, she could only think about the red-haired man and what he had done, and what he was doing now.

'Whoever you are, please save Jellal.'

**-With Aki-**

It took him awhile, but he finally reached the top of the tower. He had stopped every level to unlock a cell, giving the keys to one of the slaves to unlock the rest of them. Thankfully the cultists kept trying to attack them, so there was no shortage of keys. Not that he needed keys, after he had massacred all of the cultists when he first arrived, he had simply walked over and ripped the first cell door off of it's hinges.

It had taken a little while for the slaves to realize that he was here to help, but when they did, they immediately started picking up weapons and fighting their oppressors. He had been on the front lines, protecting the prisoners as best he could while also killing every cultist he could get his hands on, when he had heard Erza.

Erza… he would admit that he had somewhat lost control when he had heard her cry out. Running up the walkways would have taken too long, so he had jumped from floor to floor, using the railings as footholds. Once he reached her, he had proceeded to take the cultists apart. Maybe slamming that one into the wall was overkill, but it helped Aki's pent up aggression.

Seeing Erza knock out the last cultist had put a smile on his face, it was hard not to see the strong woman she would become one day. She was still hesitant sometimes, but she would grow out of that pretty quickly.

There was only one room at the top of the tower, and it was guarded by a large pair of doors. Opening them, Aki walked in to see two men and a small boy.

The two men were different from the regular cultists, one tall and the other fat, so they were probably the leaders. Between them was an unconscious blue haired boy, the only thing keeping him standing was the chains that bound him to a pole.

"So, you're the one that's caused this rebellion!" The fat one exclaimed, pointing at him accusingly.

"You may think that you're a hero, but you're nothing but a man with a death wish," The other one scoffed.

Aki ignored them, looking around the rest of the room. There weren't anymore cultists in the room, they were probably all downstairs trying to stop the uprising, but there was a familiar scent.

Ah, there she was, hiding in the corner of the room. She thought she was hidden, and while she was out of sight, she couldn't hide her scent. He let her be for now, while he would have liked to talk to her, there was nothing he could do for her right now.

What he could do right now is free Jellal. With that in mind, Aki started making his way over to the blue haired boy.

"Hey, don't ignore us!" The tall one shouted, firing a blast of magic at him. The redhead leaned to the side, letting the attack sail past him as he continued forward. He could sense their anger, anger at what he had done and how dismissive he was of them. But at the same time, he could sense their fear, the memory of what he had done to their men fresh in their minds. Finally the cultist that had attacked him had had enough.

"Die!" He shouted, rushing the dragon slayer.

Aki could have just killed them like he had the others, swift and efficiently, if slightly brutally.

These two didn't deserve that mercy.

When the cultist was close enough, the redhead struck. Crouching low, Aki swept the man's legs out from under him, sending him to the floor. Before the cultist could even begin to recover, the dragon slayer was on him, wrapping his legs around the man's arm. He waited long enough for the cultist to look him in the eye before he broke the appendage with a quick twist.

Aki felt a sense of vindication at the man's screams. It was only a fraction of the pain of what Erza had been through, but he would get what he could.

Untangling himself from the cultist's arm, he grabbed the man by the head, slamming him into the floor once, twice, three times. Blood trickled under the man's mask, but Aki could tell he was still awake from his groans of pain.

Aki slowly pulled the cultist's mask off, watching the man's terrified expression. The cultist opened his mouth to plead for mercy, but the dragon slayer wouldn't let him get that chance. His claws were like daggers, stabbing into the man's throat and wrapping around his jugular, just enough that he didn't slice it open. The man choked, trying to escape, but Aki pinned him to ground with his knee.

Aki leaned in close, grinning savagely as he saw the cultist grew increasingly more frenzied as he realized the truth, that he was going to die. The dragon slayer waited one more, agonizing, second, and then he yanked.

The man's eyes widened as his throat was cut, his blood gushing out. Aki ignored how it spilled onto him, staining his black shirt crimson. It wasn't the first time he had gotten blood on himself, nor who it be the last, he would make sure of that.

Leaving the man to bleed to death, Aki stood up and turned to the other cultist. The fat man was frozen in shock, too scared to try and save his partner while the dragon slayer was taking him apart.

As the redhead took a step towards him, the cultist snapped out of his stupor.

"No, stay away from me!" The fat man exclaimed, stumbling back. Aki slowly, almost leisurely, stalked towards his prey. There was no where for the cultist to run, he doomed.

Suddenly a blast of magic slammed into the fat man, throwing him into a wall and killing him instantly.

Aki scowled, turning to the assailant. Jellal had broken out of his chains, hand outstretched towards the body of the cultist, a wicked gleam in his eye.

'If he's using magic than she's already gotten to him.' Aki thought, cursing. He had been hoping to save Jellal before she had turned him, but now that he was corrupted it would be almost impossible to reach him.

"Hahahaha! This power, this is the power of the Dark Lord Zeref!" The blue haired boy exclaimed, laughing cruelly. He looked over at the body of the other cultist, who had finally bled to death, before looking at Aki. "Are you one of Zeref's followers as well, here to punish these fools who think that they are worth his time?"

The dragon slayer shook his head, looking at Jellal sadly. He no longer felt the burning rage from earlier, and since the boy would hurt Erza in the future, one of the conditions had been met

_That wasn't Zeref that you spoke to you, only someone pretending to be him._ He explained, using his fire to spell out his message. Like he expected, the boy didn't believe him, glaring at the man with a mask of fury.

"You lie! Zeref will be the one who will help us rise above the rest! Those who don't believe in his dream should die!" Jellal shouted. He charged at Aki, engulfed in his meteor magic.

The dragon slayer sighed as he stepped to the side, letting the blue haired boy breeze past him. As an adult, Jellal's meteor magic was powerful enough that the dragon slayer would have had to of taken the fight seriously, but as a child it was nothing but a joke.

"Fight me!" The boy screamed as he rocketed at the man again. Aki sighed again as he once more dodged the attack. He came back to protect his family, and here he was, dealing with a brain controlled child throwing a temper tantrum.

As Jellal passed by again, Aki grabbed him by his shirt and threw him into a wall, hard. The boy gasped as he slammed into the wall, the air leaving his body. Before he could recover, the dragon slayer was suddenly in front of him, his eyes flashing with power.

Aki wrapped his hand around Jellal's throat, slowly applying pressure. The blue haired boy choked, his hands scrambling at the dragon slayer's own, but it was no use. After a few moments, Jellal's eyes rolled up into his head as he fell unconscious.

The dragon slayer let him drop to the floor, simply looking at the boy. Aki didn't need to check the child's pulse, he could hear his heart continuing to beat. No, he was trying to decide what to do with Jellal.

He could just leave the boy there, for her to pick up and make him her puppet. It would save Erza the pain of seeing what her friend had become.

Unfortunately he knew that she would be in even more pain if she later found out that Jellal had been alive all along.

The problem with the last option was that he didn't know how to fix Jellal. Porcelina might be able to do it but he didn't know, and if she couldn't then Jellal might be stuck like that, and Erza would be in even more pain.

The idea of Erza never forgiving him for leaving Jellal behind finally made up his mind. Grabbing the boy, Aki unceremoniously threw Jellal over his shoulder. He started making his way to the exit, but paused.

Though she hadn't made a sound the entire time, he could hear her heart beating a mile a minute. He had heard it before, when he had been tearing armies apart, it was the sound of fear. The fear of watching people being torn apart in front of you, and the terror of wondering if you're next.

Aki felt a pang of pity for her. Honestly he wanted to help her. He wanted to tell her that she was being used, that her mother hadn't abandoned her, and she still loved her with all her heart. He wanted to take her to Fairy Tail, to remind her what a real family looked like.

But he knew she wouldn't listen to him, she was too far gone for him to reach her right now. And with Ur alive now…

He could do many things, but right now saving Ultear wasn't one of them.

**-With Erza-**

They had finally won. The fight had gone on for what seemed like hours, both sides never giving up.

Rob was one of their strongest fighters. Surprising everyone with his magic, he took out groups of cultists all on his own. Erza helped out where she could, unlocking cells, knocking out cultists, and helping everyone she could.

In the end, the slaves managed to overcome their oppressors. With their mysterious rescuer unlocking the harder to reach cells, as well as decimating a large portion of the cultists, the prisoner's sheer numbers were able to triumph over the better equipped guards and their magical creatures.

Right now the slaves, no, former slaves were flooding out of the tower, enjoying their new found freedom. Some of them were passing out food and drink they had taken from the cultists, while others were balling their eyes out.

"We're free!" Sho shouted happily, jumping up and down. Millianna and Wally were hugging, tears streaming down their faces.

"We did it! We escaped!" The girl cried.

"Yes we did," Simon said, turning to Erza. "What do you think Erza?"

She didn't notice him though, too focused on the entrance to the Tower of the Heaven.

She was overjoyed to be free, she really was, but she couldn't help but worry about Jellal. The stranger had said he would get him, but what if he couldn't find Jellal? Or what if Jellal is…

A hand on her shoulder shook her out of her thoughts. She looked up to Rob's smiling face.

"I'm sure our new friend will find him," He assured her.

"How can you be sure?" She asked worriedly.

"I don't know," He admitted. "But he seems the type of man that will do whatever it takes to help someone, even if he just met them."

"Like Fairy Tail?" She wondered. Rob had told her and her friends many things about Fairy Tail, including how wonderful the guild members were.

"Just like Fairy Tail," He assured her. "In fact, if he doesn't belong to a guild then I might just ask him to join us on our trip to the guild."

"Us?" Erza asked in confusion.

"Of course, I'm planning on taking you children to Fairy Tail. It'll be a perfect home for all of you," He explained before hastily adding. "If you want to of course."

He stumbled slightly as she suddenly tackled him, crying happily.

"Yes! Yes!" She exclaimed. After being locked away for so long, without ever knowing who her parents were, the idea of having such a great family was overwhelming.

"Erza, look!" Simon shouted, pointing towards the entrance. She turned to see the stranger walking towards them, a familiar blue mop slung over his shoulder.

"Jellal!" She cried, running towards them. She stopped a few feet from them, looking at the man worriedly. His shirt was covered in blood, and some were dripping from his fingers, and none of it looked like it was his. "Is he alright?"

The man gave a small smile, nodding. He walked over to Rob and gently laid the boy on the ground. It wasn't until Jellal was on the ground and she saw that he was simply unconscious did she run to him. Before she could reach him though, the redhead suddenly stuck a hand out, stopping her.

"What's wrong?" She asked in confusion. He just shook his head again before standing up and motioning for Rob to follow him. The two men walked far enough away that they kids couldn't see what they were doing. They could see the redhead make some motions with his hand, and Rob nodding every once in a while, but nothing too specific.

The two men came back after only a couple minutes. Rob immediately walked over to Jellal and started checking on him.

"What's wrong with Jellal?" Asked Simon worriedly. The man continued to examine the blue haired boy as he explained.

"He's fine, he just needs some time to rest. It's nothing to worry about," He said before muttering something. Jellal shifted in his sleep for a moment before going still again.

"What was that?" Millianna asked curiously. Rob leaned back, giving her a warm smile.

"Just a small spell that will help him sleep," He explained. Millianna, Wally, and Sho were amazed at the display of magic, no matter how small it had been. Even Simon looked impressed.

Erza frowned though. She knew what kind of torture Jellal had been through, she had been going through the same thing until they had switched places, and it shouldn't have forced Rob to keep Jellal asleep.

Unfortunately, she knew the man wouldn't tell her what she wanted to know, he could be tight lipped when he wanted to be. The only other people who would know were the cultist leaders and their rescuer.

Erza turned to him, but to her surprise he had disappeared while they were celebrating Jellal's return. She looked around at the other groups and at the shore, but she couldn't find him anywhere.

"Where did he go?" She asked. Her friends looked at her in confusion, but Rob understood what she meant.

"Our new friend had to go, he said that there was somewhere he needed to be," He explained.

"Where is he going, and how's he leaving?" She asked.

"He didn't say, but apparently with how he travels, he can't take anyone with him," He said.

"I'm glad, he's scary," Sho said, shuddering.

"He saved our lives though, and helped rescue everyone," Simon pointed out.

"But he killed people!" Millianna exclaimed.

"And the cultists killed people!" Erza argued, surprising the others. "They killed people if they didn't, or couldn't, work, and sometimes just because they could! Yes he killed them, but he did it to help us! We shouldn't be afraid of someone who saved our lives."

"Erza's right," Rob suddenly spoke up. "While he was violent when he fought the cultists, it was no doubt because he was angry at what they had done. I imagine that he is actually much nicer than you think he is."

"How do you know?" Wally asked.

"Well, not only did he decide to help free us, even at the risk of his own life, but he also took the time to rescue Jellal, when he could have left it to someone else," He explained. "I understand that you're afraid of him, but you also don't know everything about him. If you meet him again, give him a chance."

Millianna, Sho, and Wally looked at their feet in shame while Simon nodded. Erza hesitated for a moment before making up her mind.

"I'm going to go find him and thank him!" She said, running off before the others could stop her. She raced between the crowds, looking for the stranger. After a couple minutes she began to grow frustrated.

There were only a few redheads that had been enslaved in the tower, and none of them had the same blood red color as Erza and the stranger had, so it shouldn't be this hard to find him.

Stopping for a moment, she thought about the few things she knew about him. He was strong, unbelievably strong, that much was obvious. He never talked, so he was probably mute. He wasn't afraid to kill, but he also helped people in need. With how he attacked the tower completely alone, and how he fought all the way to the top without anyone's help, he probably liked to work by himself.

'If he's still on the island then he's hiding somewhere so he can be alone!' She realized. With that in mind, she changed direction, heading to some of the rockier parts of the shore. It took a few minutes, carefully walking over the uneven terrain, but she eventually managed to find the stranger.

He was sitting next to the water, trying and failing to scrub the blood out of his shirt with a rag. He had gotten the blood off of his fingers, but he was having no success with his clothing. She giggled quietly as he huffed, throwing the rag on the ground and glaring at it in annoyance. He suddenly blinked in surprise before looking up at her and waving.

She ducked down behind a rock in surprise, she hadn't expected him to hear her! Peeking over the rock, she saw him still looking at her. When he saw her, he waved again before motioning for her to come down. She hesitated for a moment before berating herself, she had just told her friends that he was nice, she shouldn't be worried that he would hurt her!

Making her way down the rocks, she stood next to the stranger. He smiled at her, as if happy that she decided to come down. There was a moment of silence as Erza tried to think of something to say.

She didn't know why she was so nervous around him, she wasn't afraid of him, but she felt like he would be upset if she asked him about what was wrong with Jellal.

The stranger was patient while she was thinking of something to say, fetching the rag and trying again to get the blood off.

"I can help!" She suddenly blurted, slamming her hands over her mouth almost immediately afterwards. He didn't seem to mind though, simply looking at her hesitantly. Gathering her courage, she spoke again.

"I don't mind the blood, and it will probably go faster," She pointed out. He hesitated for a another moment before giving her a smile and nodding in thanks. She took the rag and started scrubbing at his shirt.

"How did you get your shirt stained?" She asked, making sure to not directly say that it was blood. The man wasn't going to answer though, simply shaking his head, the look in his eyes enough for her to know not to ask again. There was a moment of silence before she spoke again, this time more quietly.

"Thank you for saving Jellal," She said. The stranger gave a bright smile, rubbing her hair. She ducked in surprise, blushing slightly at the sudden display of affection. Looking up, she saw he was still smiling at her. She wanted him to keep smiling at her like that, but she also wanted her questions answered.

"What's wrong with Jellal?" She asked quietly. Like she expected, his smile disappeared in a flash as he shook his head.

"He's my friend, I should know if he's hurt!" She argued. He gave her a sad look before he began writing in the sand.

_He's not injured, so you don't have to worry._ He assured her.

"Then why did Rob use a sleeping spell on him?" She demanded. The man's eyes widened in surprise for a moment before he sighed, running a hand down his face. He erased the last message with a swipe of his hand and started writing.

_When he was being tortured, something happened. I don't know what. It made him go…_ He paused for a moment, as if thinking for the right word.

"Crazy?" Erza asked worriedly. To her growing fear, he hesitated for a moment.

_More like unbalanced. He thinks that someone spoke to him and told him to destroy those who would not follow him._ He wrote.

"Will he be alright?" She asked, her voice shaking slightly. To have her friend hurt like that, especially since it was her fault, was devastating.

_Possibly. I once had a friend who went through something similar. It took some time, but he eventually reverted to his normal self._ He said. Erza looked up at him hopefully.

"How did he get better?" She asked. To her surprise, he suddenly looked nervous, scratching the back of his head as he gave a silent laugh.

_Let's just say that I had to beat some sense into him before he would listen to me._ He said. It took her a moment to understand what he meant.

"You tied him up and hit him over the head until he was better?!" She exclaimed. The man frantically shook his head, waving his hand in front of him.

_He and I had a fight, that's all! Don't tie up Jellal and start hitting him!_ He wrote hurriedly. He took a breath to calm down before he started writing again. _And I'm sure that Fairy Tail will be able to help. Who knows, maybe they'll be able to fix your eye as well._

"Do you really think that?" She asked hopefully. He nodded, a confident look in his eyes. To not only help Jellal, but to give her sight back? It would be amazing! Suddenly she had a thought.

"How do you know about Fairy Tail?!" Erza asked in surprise. The stranger smiled at her again, the type of smile that she wanted him to give her.

_Rob told me about how he was taking you and your friends there, and he invited me to join you._ He explained.

"So you're coming with us?" She asked hopefully. Her friends were still unsure about him, but he had done so much for them, and he was so nice that she wanted him to be part of her new family at Fairy Tail.

To her disappointment though, he shook his head. She looked down sadly, she felt like she had just made a new friend, and she was already losing him.

She looked up as he suddenly ruffled her hair again, giving her an amused look.

_I said that I wasn't coming with you, I didn't say that I wouldn't join._ He wrote. She stared at the words for a moment before suddenly hugging him.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" She cried, hugging him tightly. She had too many emotions welling inside to say anything else. Thank you for freeing me and my friends, for saving Jellal, for everything.

He seemed to understand what she meant though, because he returned her hug with his lone arm. After a couple moments she stepped back, blushing in embarrassment. The stranger didn't seem to mind though, simply giving her one of his special smiles.

"Are you going to leave now?" She asked. He nodded sadly, though he gave her a thumbs up. She smiled before she realized something.

"How are you going to get off the island, Rob said you couldn't take anyone with you?" She asked. The man smirked, as if he knew something and he wasn't telling. Erza huffed in annoyance, making the man laugh.

"I don't know your name!" She realized. The stranger blinked in surprise, as if realizing the same thing.

_I'm Aki, what's yours?_ He asked.

"Erza Scarlet! It's nice to meet you Aki!" She said happily. Aki smiled at her joy at finding out his name.

_It's nice to meet you too Erza Scarlet. I'll see you soon._ He promised. She nodded, fixing him with a hard look.

"You'd better," She warned, but he just laughed. He ruffled her hair one last time, then she ran off to find her friends. She stopped at the top of the rocks, looking back at Aki. He was still sitting on the shore, simply looking out at the water as he played with a single glove.

**-A Few Days Later-**

It was a usual day in Fairy Tail, meaning that it was chaos. Everyone was partying, drinking, and generally having a good time.

The Strauss siblings were fitting in pretty well into their new home. The master had been nice enough to rent an apartment for them while they figured something out. They couldn't stay at the Fairy Hills apartments because it was only for girls.

Everyone at the guild was really nice, though they were slightly odd at times. Lisanna had immediately made friends with everyone with her cheerful personality. Elfman and Mira had been a bit slower, Elfman because of his natural shyness and Mira because she was still worried about her arm.

She had privately told Makarov about what happened to them and about her arm. He had confirmed what Aki had told her, that she had take-over magic. He had said that no one in the guild would mistreat them because of her powers, many of the other guild members had even stranger magic, but she was still hesitant to use it.

The siblings had made friends with some of the other children there too, Cana, Levy, and Laxus. Cana was never without a glass of juice, and Levy often had her nose in a book. Laxus was a bit older than the rest, and a bit stuck up at times, but he usually hung out with the them. They played with the Strauss siblings a lot, but they were all learning magic while Mira didn't want to show hers and her siblings didn't have any, not yet at least.

If she was honest with herself, she was waiting for Aki to arrive before she started practicing her magic. She had a good idea of how to transform, but the memory of the demon made her afraid that she might lose control. She was only comfortable showing her siblings and Aki her magic, and her brother and sister couldn't stop her if she lost control.

"I wonder what Aki's doing." Elfman said. He and the other children were sitting at a table

"That's that badass guy you were telling us about right?" Cana asked she took a drink.

"Cana, language!" Levy admonished before turning to the others. "Didn't you say that he would be here in a couple weeks?"

"Yeah,' Mira said, nodding. 'But we don't know where he's at right now. He just said that he'd be here in two weeks."

"I can't wait to see him again!" Her sister said excitedly, almost bouncing around in his seat.

"I still find it hard to believe that he took on an entire dark guild by himself and won," Laxus commented.

"He did! We saw the whole thing!" Lisanna told him seriously. The blonde raised his hands placatingly, he had learned not to go against her when she grew insistent.

"He was really awesome," Elfman agreed.

"How did you guys meet him again?" Cana asked curiously.

The younger Strauss siblings glanced at Mira. She still wasn't comfortable telling what had happened to them, and her brother and sister had agreed not to say anything until Mira did.

"We-" She began, trying to think of something to say. Fortunately, the guild doors swung open, distracting everyone.

As usual, the chaos died down as everyone turned to see the newcomers, but it was quickly followed by several gasps. Makarov's eyes widened in shock before he jumped down and rushed over.

"Rob! What happened?" He asked worriedly. His lifelong friend was hunched over with exhaustion, carrying a blue haired boy in his arms. There were several other children behind them, once of which had a bandage over her eye. All of them were clothed in rags.

"I got in a little over my head," The taller man said, laughing a little. "But I made it out alright. Someone should get Porcelina though, she needs to take a look at these kids."

Makarov nodded, signalling to Macao. The younger man nodded, running at fast as he could to Porcelina's hut in the woods.

"Wakaba, you and some of the others grab some food and water. Oh, and see if there are any spare clothes we can use," He ordered, and as the guild members jumped to his command, he turned to the newcomers. "You children, come with me to the infirmary." He said, leading the way.

The children looked uncertainty at Rob, who nodded. They followed him into the infirmary, the eyes of the guild upon them. Once the door closed, the guild broke out in whispered conversations, and the guild kids were no exception.

"Who were those guys?" Cana asked, her voice shaking.

"The old man is an old friend of Gramps'. He was travelling Fiore the last I heard," Laxus told them. The others could tell that even he was bothered by what had just happened, as he kept glancing at the infirmary door.

"They were all really thin, consistent with malnourishment," Levy said quietly, looking down at the table.

"Do you mean…" Lisanna asked in shock.

"They may have been prisoners." Mira said grimly. Everyone was silent as they processed what she said.

'What we went through probably means nothing compared to what they've been through.' She thought. She didn't know what slaves went through, but she knew that it was a terrible life, one which no one should go through.

"Is there something we can do to help them?" Elfman asked. His question suddenly gave her an idea.

"Elfman, Lisanna, follow me," She said, standing up. Her siblings were confused, but they quickly followed her.

"What are you doing?" Levy asked.

"The master told Wakaba to look for some spare clothes. We have a couple extra clothes at our house that should be able to fit some of those kids," Mira explained. The others looked at each other before standing up too.

They all went their separate ways, the Strauss siblings heading to their apartment while the other girls went to Fairy Hills and Laxus went wherever he lived. Once the siblings reached their apartment, they took a couple of minutes picking out clothes that they thought would fit the other children.

'Mine should fit the girl with the red hair.' Mira thought as she pulled out a dress. Even though Mira didn't know any of the newcomers, she still wanted to help them.

_Why do I need a reason to help you?_ Aki's words echoed in her head, making her smile. Aki would have done whatever he could to help Rob and the children, and she would too.

Once she and her siblings had found the clothes they were looking for, they hurried back to the guild. They got back just in time to meet the others returning from their own searches.

"I'm surprised that you had any clothes that could fit them Laxus," Cana commented as they headed inside.

"I had some old pairs of clothes that were too small for me. I've been meaning to get rid of them, but I guess it's a good thing that I didn't," He said.

"Hopefully they'll all fit," Levy said.

"Even if they don't, at least they can get out of those rags," Mira said, opening the door to the infirmary.

The newcomers were still there, though Poreclina had arrived at some point and was doing an examination of the blue haired boy, who was still asleep. Someone had brought food and water, and the kids were eating at a steady pace. Every once in a while, Rob had to remind one of them to slow down so they don't get sick.

"Children, what are you doing here?" Makarov asked as he saw Mira and the others. The white haired girl showed him the clothes in her arms.

"You said that you needed some spare clothes, so we brought what we could," She explained. He looked at her and the others in surprise before he gave them a large smile.

"Thank you children, that was very kind of you!" He said. The children smiled happily at his praise before delivering their clothes to the newcomers.

Mira headed over to the red haired girl, since her clothes would only fit the other girl. The redhead was too focused on the unconscious boy to notice anything else in the room, including the untouched tray of food next to her.

"You should eat, it will help you get your strength back," Mira said as she walked up to her. The redhead jerked in surprise, staring at the other girl with her one eye. The other one was covered up by a white bandage as if she had hurt it, or lost it. Mira didn't comment on it, she wouldn't want the other girl to comment on her demon arm if she still had it.

"I brought some clothes for you to wear. They used to be mine, so I don't know how well they'll fit you but I thought that it would be better than what you're wearing right now," She continued, offering the clothes to the redhead. The other girl looked down at the clothes for a few moments before hesitantly taking them.

"Thank you," She said shyly.

"You're welcome." Mira said with a smile. "My name is Mira, what's yours?"

"E-Erza," The other girl said, obviously unused to the attention. She paused for a moment before adding. "Are you a Fairy Tail mage?"

"Sort of," Mira said. "I'm a member of Fairy Tail, but I haven't started using magic yet."

"I don't know any magic either," Erza admitted. "But Rob said that he'll be able to teach me."

"I'm waiting for a friend of mine to teach me. He said that he'd be here next week, so I'm waiting until then," The white haired girl said.

There was a short pause, in which the redhead glanced to the unconscious boy.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Mira assured her. Erza glanced at her in surprise before smiling.

"Thank you," She said, looking back at her friend. "Rob said that Procelina is one of the best healers in Fiore, even though she doesn't have any magic."

"Do you know what's wrong with him?" Mira asked. At Erza's flinch, she added. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"It's fine," The redhead said, smiling at the other girl. "We're going to be family, so we shouldn't hide secrets from each other."

Mira looked at her with wide eyes, thinking about her magic and how she ended up here.

'She's right. I'll tell her once everything settles down.' She decided before smiling back.

"Family also looks out for each other," She added. The two smiled at each other for a few seconds before Erza looked back at Jellal.

"He was being held by some evil men," She said, clenching her fist angrily. "They… hurt him, a lot. While they were hurting him, something happened to him that made him… act different. Rob had to put Jellal under a sleeping spell so he didn't hurt anyone."

"I'm sorry," Mira said quietly. The way Erza described Jellal's behavior was what Mira was afraid would happen if she lost control of her magic. She could imagine that the pain the other girl was going through was what her siblings would feel if she lost control.

"It's alright, Aki said that Fairy Tail could heal him, and maybe even fix my eye too," Erza said, putting a hand over her bandage. Mira barely noticed what she said, too surprised by who the other girl was talking about.

"You know Aki?"


	6. The Young and The Old

"Why are we here?"

Ur sighed as Lyon asked her again. He had asked that several times during their trip across Fiore.

While she was taking the villagers to the next town, she had put a lot of thought into what Aki had said. She couldn't live in the cabin anymore, not with her leg, and taking Gray and Lyon into town was asking for trouble. She could try to move to a different town and see if they could get a fresh start there, but she knew that it wouldn't work.

They were mages, and towns didn't hire mages for their magic. A guild was probably their best bet, but there were no guilds were they lived, and she didn't know what the guilds in Fiore were like. Well, not all of them.

If what Aki said was true, then Fairy Tail was probably their best bet at a new life. With that in mind, she had told Gray and Lyon her decision.

Gray had agreed immediately to her idea. Whatever Aki had said to the boy, he had taken it to heart. Whenever Gray had the chance to train, he would throw himself into it with a frenzy, as if his life depended on it. Ur thought about asking him about it, but he had also been much more open to her and Lyon, so she let it go.

Unsurprisingly, Lyon had been the difficult one. He had been against it from the very start, demanding to know why they had to leave. Even when she explained, he was still resistant to idea. To her surprise, Gray had tried to convince him too, telling him that they should all go together, so they can take care of each other.

It wasn't until Ur pointed out that there would be strong mages there, and that Aki might be there too, that Lyon was convinced to go with them. He was still somewhat against it, but it was more of a temper tantrum than anything else, so Ur ignored him.

After they had delivered the villagers, they had made a quick stop at the cabin to grab some essentials as well as some personal items before they had started heading to Fairy Tail. Thankfully Ur was proficient enough wither her ice magic to shape her prosthesis to fit her shoe and her pants. It had been hard to walk with it at first, but she had eventually learned to use a small portion of her magic to have it move like an actual leg. It would take a while to build up enough reserves to use it without tiring herself, but she could make it work.

Ur had saved enough money that they could afford to travel by train, so the trip only took a week and a half, faster than she thought it would take. Now they were in Magnolia, walking towards a large building with the guild symbol displayed proudly on the front of the building.

"What do you think it's like?" Gray asked curiously.

"Aki said it's like a family, everyone there will do whatever it take to help you," She told him. He nodded, as if he agreed with the idea of a family. After losing his own family, and almost losing her, she wasn't surprised.

"As long as there's strong mages there, I don't care how they act," Lyon said.

"If you keep up that attitude, no one will care how strong _you_ are," Gray scolded him.

"What did you say?!" The white haired boy demanded. The other boy butted heads with him, growling.

"You heard me," He said. Ur grabbed both of them by their shirts, lifting them into the air.

"Both of you behave. We need to make a good impression on them," She warned. She didn't tell them what Aki said about Fairy Tail not caring about who you were in order to make the two boys behave. It worked because the two of them settled down.

By now they had reached the guild doors. Ur paused for a moment, glancing at each of them. Gray had a determined look on his face, like he was ready to join the guild no matter what it took. Lyon was obviously impatient, wanting to get it over with.

Ur sighed before opening the doors. The first thing that hit her was the noise. It was like a party inside, everyone drinking, laughing, and having a good time.

"This is Fairy Tail," Lyon said with a scoff.

"Just give it a chance," Gray said, though he too looked surprise by the guild. Ur was surprised as well, Aki had left out that Fairy Tail was this… energetic.

"Come on, let's go in," She said, leading the way. Gray and Lyon followed after her, looking around the guild hall.

It was a comfortable size, just enough that everyone could fit into it without bumping elbows. No one was by themself, usually with two or three other guild members, chatting and laughing at the occasional joke.

"Hello there!" Someone suddenly said. Ur looked down to see a white haired girl, younger than Gray, holding a tray full of empty glasses.

"Should you be handling alcohol?" Was the first thing that came out of Ur's mouth.

"Well, we don't have many people handling the drinks, so I offered to help. The master said that as long as I didn't drink any of the alcohol, I could help," She said, before leaning in to whisper. "I think it's disgusting anyway, so I'm not going to drink any."

"That's good, I guess," Ur said, trying to understand why a little girl would ask to be a bartender.

"Oh!" The girl said, putting a hand on her cheek. "I haven't introduced myself! My name is Lisanna. If you need any help let me know," She said before looking over at Gray and giggling. "I think I should help you find your clothes first."

Ur turned to see that indeed, her black haired apprentice had lost his clothes, again. And like usual, he hadn't noticed.

"Ah! Where did my clothes go!" He exclaimed, looking around frantically.

"How many times have I told you not to do that!" Ur demanded, hitting him over the head.

"It's not my fault, it's your stupid teaching methods!" The boy replied.

"Don't talk to me like that!" She said, hitting him again. "Lyon, help him find his clothes."

"What?! Why do I have to help him!" The white haired boy demanded.

"Because I told you to!" Ur said, glaring at him. The boy huffed, but started helping his friend. Sighing, Ur turned back to Lisanna.

"I'm sorry about them," She said, but the girl just giggled again.

"Don't worry, I've seen weider things so far, and this is only my first week," She told the woman. Ur blinked in surprise.

"You joined a week ago? And they're letting you handle drinks?" She asked incredulously.

"Well, I like helping, and my siblings and I don't have magic yet so I thought I would help by serving everyone drinks," The girl explained happily. This time Ur smiled at her.

"That's very kind of you," She said, making Lisanna smile.

"But that's enough about me, what can I do for you?" The girl asked, making Ur remember why they were there in the first place.

"My students and I were hoping to join Fairy Tail, is there anything we have to do?" She asked. Aki had said that they didn't have to do anything, but she wanted to make sure. It seemed like he was right though, because Lisanna shook her head.

"All you have to do is get your guild stamp," She said cheerfully before turning to the bar. "Master, these people want to join the guild!"

A short, old, man with an orange jester cap on his head jumped off his place on the bar, making his way over to them.

"Oh? Well in that case, welcome to Fairy Tail!" He said with a large smile. "My name is Makarov Dreyar, I'm the master of Fairy Tail."

"You're the master, you're just a short old man!" Lyon exclaimed, he and Gray back from retrieving Gray's clothes. Before Ur could scold him for being rude, someone interrupted.

"You'd better watch it brat, he's one of the ten Wizard Saints," A yellow haired boy, older than Lyon, said as he walked up to them.

"Yeah. Who the hell are they, and who the hell are you?" Lyon demanded.

"The Wizard Saints are the ten most powerful mages in Fiore. I'm Laxus Dreyar, someone who can beat you down in an instant, so you'd better watch it runt," The older boy said. The white haired boy started to retort but Ur cut in.

"Enough Lyon," She warned, giving him a hard look. Once she was sure that he was sufficiently culled she turned to Makarov. "I'm very sorry about my student, he hasn't learned how to control his temper."

To her surprise, the older man simply waved her off.

"It's quite alright, children can be quite rambunctious at times. My grandson has yet to learn how to control his temper as well," He said, looking at Laxus. The boy scoffed, walking off to a table with a few other children.

"Now then!" Makarov said clapping his hands. "Let's get you and your students registered as official mages of Fairy Tail, then we can celebrate!"

The last part he shouted, causing the guild to erupt into cheers. It seemed that they would use any excuse they could to party, as they started getting even more rambunxious than before.

Ur shook her head as she followed Makarov. She had lived with two boys in a small cabin in the middle of nowhere, she could handle crazy guild members.

After they had been registered as Fairy Tail mages, they received their guild marks. Ur chose to have it on her left thigh, while Gray and Lyon had theirs on their chests. Afterwards Lisanna started introducing them to some of the other guild members.

Wakaba and Macao were nice, though they were perverted at times. After threatening to freeze their manhood, they quickly stopped their perverted behavior. Rob had been nice to talk with, he had explained a bit of how Fairy Tail worked and Makarov had suggested a few apartments that could fit her budget until she started taking jobs.

Gildarts had been an interesting person. He was perverted like Wakaba and Macao, and very boisterous, but Ur could tell that he was much stronger than he let on. He was similar to Aki in the respect that they both seemed to be more than they let on. At one point Makarov has said that Gildarts was the powerful mage in the guild.

After a few more introductions, she decided to go find her students. She found them pretty quickly, they were at the table where Laxus had been sitting at. He was still there, as were about ten other children. Lisanna was sitting with an older boy and girl, both with white hair matching hers, marking them as siblings. The other kids were various ages, the most interesting one being a redhead with a bandage over her eye.

Currently there was an argument going on, Gray, the older sister, and the redhead chewing Lyon out.

"Lyon, what did you do?" Ur demanded as she walked up to the table.

"They were talking about how Aki helped them and I just said that he's weak because he doesn't use any magic!" He protested.

"Do you forget how he tore Deliora apart!" Gray exclaimed. "He used magic then!"

"Yeah, but he didn't use it to light the bonfire, he used flint and steel!" His friend retorted.

"Aki doesn't need to use his magic to be strong!" The older sister said. "He took down an entire dark guild all by himself, without using magic!"

"After running miles!" Lisanna added, her cheeks puffed in outrage.

"And he took on an entire army of cultists and can shatter magical cuffs with just his bare hand!" The redhead said enthusiastically.

"Hold on." Ur cut in. "All of you know Aki?"

"Yep!" Lisanna said cheerfully, while most of the children nodded.

"It seems that he's been getting around quite a bit," Makarov said as he, Gildarts, and Rob walked over.

"We were in the mountains when we met him. That was a week and a half ago," She said.

"We saw him a week ago when he saved us from some mean villagers," Lisanna said, making a face before turning to her sister. "Mira, where do we live?"

"I don't know exactly,' Her sister admitted. 'But it's somewhere in the middle of Fiore."

"We were on the Southern coast of Fiore, all the way across the country from where you and your students were," Rob told Ur, several of the children nodding. "That was only a few days ago."

"I wonder how he travels so fast?" A blue haired girl asked.

"He uses his magic," Ur explained. "He's a fire mage, and he propels himself with his flames. That's how he reached the coast so fast."

"He sounds very powerful if he can use his magic for that long," Makarov said.

"I wouldn't mind having a go at him!" Gildarts said with a laugh.

"And he managed to do that after he killed Deliora," Gray added. The three men choked, staring at him in shock.

"_The_ Deliora!" Makarov cried in shock. All of the kids except Gray and Lyon looked at the master in confusion.

"Who's Deliora?" The redhead asked.

"Not a who, a what. It's a demon, one that was thought to be unkillable," Ur explained.

"Until Aki killed it?" Lisanna asked. When the woman nodded, the white haired girl looked like she was going to explode with excitement, her eyes like stars. "Aki is so cool!"

"Do you know how he managed to do it?" Makarov asked curiously.

"All he did was hit with a bunch of fire," Lyon said scoffing.

"How would you know?" Gray asked him. "You missed the whole thing after Ur knocked you out, remember?"

Lyon blushed in embarrassment, glaring at his friend.

"Lyon's somewhat right, Aki just continued to hit Deliora with everything he had until he finally killed it," Ur elaborated.

"It sounds like what you do Gildarts." Makarov teased the orange haired man, who laughed awkwardly.

"What can I say, it tends to work out," He said, rubbing the back of his head.

"I thought Aki didn't use his magic?" Elfman asked in confusion.

"He said that he had terrible control of it, he never said that he didn't use it," Mira reminded him.

"He definitely didn't use it when he was helping us," Rob mused.

"He has a set of rules that he uses to restrict his magic so that he doesn't accidentally hurt someone," Ur explained. Aki had been open enough to her about his rules that she felt that he wouldn't mind her telling them about it, especially with how much he seemed to like Fairy Tail.

"With enough power to kill Deliora, and then to use his magic to fly for several hours, I'm not surprised that he has those rules set up." Makarov said, nodding. "It's too bad you can't borrow them Gildarts."

"Listen, it was one building! I don't see what the big deal is!" Gildarts exclaimed.

"It cost more to repair it than it would repairing our own guild, five times over!" The master exclaimed.

"Oh, right. I forgot about that," Gildarts said, laughing. Makarov shook his head before turning back to Ur.

"I'm curious though, do you know what the rules are?" He asked.

"They're all about protecting other people, or avenging them if they're hurt," She said. The master, Gildarts, and Rob all gave big smiles at her words.

"It sounds like he'll fit right in when he gets here," Makarov said.

"He's joining Fairy Tail? When?" Lyon demanded, Gray just as curious.

"He promised that he was going to be here in a few days," Mira answered.

"He'd better, I'd never forgive him if he didn't," The redhead muttered.

"They've all grown quite attached to Aki after he helped them," Rob explained with a smile.

"I can tell," Ur replied as she watched the kids erupt into another conversation about Aki.

**-July 7th x777-**

"Igneel! Dad! Where are you?" A young boy cried, tears beginning to pool in his eyes. His only clothes were a pairs of pants and the sandals on his feet. What really stuck out was his spiky pink hair, that seemed to stick out in every direction, and a white scarf that wound around his neck.

He was currently in the middle of a forest, walking around aimlessly as he continued his search.

"Igneel!" He shouted, hearing nothing but an echo in response.

Sitting down at the trunk of a tree, he hugged his knees, tears streaming down his face.

"Why did you leave me dad?" He asked quietly. He didn't know how long he sat there, crying like a baby, but the sun was starting to set when he heard the sound of footsteps.

His head shot up, hope shining in his eyes. It died out an instant later as he saw the newcomer. Instead of his dad, like he had been expecting, it was just a human.

The man had spiky hair, similar to his own, but it was blood red instead of pink. He had a scar across his jaw, and the only memorable details about his outfit was that his left arm was bare and that he had a black strip of cloth around his throat.

"W-who are you?" The boy asked, standing up. Igneel had told him about how there was good humans and bad humans, and the boy didn't know which one this man was.

The man pulled out a notebook and pen, jotting something down before showing it to him. The child tried to read it, but gave up after a few moments.

"I can't read it," He admitted. The man blinked in surprise before nodding in understanding. Crouching down, he started scratching something in the ground. Curious, the boy came over to see what he was doing.

On the ground, the man had drawn a flower, a tree, a leaf, and a snowflake. He pointed to the leaf before pointing to himself. The boy scowled at it for a while trying to figure it out. The stranger was nice enough to wait until he figured it out.

"Oh! Your name is Aki!" The boy realized. The man gave him a wide smile before pointing at the boy, tilting his head questioningly.

"I'm Natsu Dragneel!" The boy said proudly, thumbing his chest. Aki clapped in appreciation. Natsu beamed at the attention before looking at the man in confusion.

"How come you can't talk?" He asked. Aki gave a rueful smile, running a thumb over his throat.

"Your throat was hurt and you can't talk anymore," The child said sadly. The redhead nodded, but it didn't seem to bother him too much, no doubt because he had lived with it for a while.

Aki pointed at Natsu before gesturing around the woods. This time the boy was a little faster understanding him.

"I'm looking for my dad Igneel! He's super strong and super amazing!" He said before looking downtrodden. "But he disappeared, and I can't find him."

Aki gave him a sad look, as if understanding his sorrow. He pointed to his eye pointing to Natsu.

"Igneel's huge! And he's red and has a scar over his eye!" Natsu said before adding. "Oh, and he's a dragon!"

If Aki was surprised that Igneel was a dragon, he didn't show it. Patting Natsu's head, the man stood up to his full height, looking around. He turned in each direction, taking a couple sniffs before turning again.

Natsu stared at him in shock. Igneel had told him that regular humans didn't have enhanced sense like Natsu had, so Aki had to be…

"Are you a dragon slayer too?" He asked in amazement. Aki looked over his shoulder, winking at him.

"Wow! What kind of dragon slayer are you?" Natsu asked. The redhead took a break from his search to draw a flame in the dirt.

"I'm a fire dragon slayer too!" The boy said excitedly. His dad had said that dragon slayer magic was super rare, so to meet another one, and a fire dragon slayer too, was amazing!

Aki smiled at him before tapping his nose. Natsu's excitement was quickly replaced with shame. He had been so excited with meeting a another dragon slayer, he had forgotten what Aki was doing.

"I'm sorry," He mumbled. The man didn't seem to mind, simply giving Natsu a thumbs up and ruffling his hair before going back to his search.

After a few moments the man finished his search, crouching down to look Natsu in the eye. He slowly shook his head.

Natsu felt tears build up in his eyes. He knew exactly what Aki was trying to say, Igneel wasn't anywhere near them.

"D-dad." He sobbed quietly. He didn't question the man, Aki was a dragon slayer. If he said that he couldn't smell Igneel, then he meant it. Even though the redhead hadn't met Igneel, the dragon's scent was distinct enough that Aki couldn't have missed him.

Aki gave a silent sigh, looking at the boy sadly. After a moment, he enveloped Natsu with his cloak, bringing him into a hug.

Even though he had just met Aki, Natsu didn't hesitate to seek comfort in the redhead. He cried into the man's shoulder, deep, body wracking sobs that. How could Igneel just leave him?

Aki continued to comfort him, enveloping the boy in his warmth. After a couple minutes, Natsu finally calmed down. Wiping away his tears, he shyly looked at the man.

"Thank you." He said. Aki simply gave him an understanding smile, ruffling the pinkette's hair.

Tilting his head questioningly, the man pointed at Natsu before shrugging. It took a couple of tries before the boy finally understood him.

"What am I going to do?" He asked Aki, who nodded. "I'm going to look for Igneel of course!" Natsu said with his usual enthusiasm. The redhead smirked, as if he had expected it, before sweeping his arm around him.

"I-I don't know where I'll start." The boy admitted, suddenly realizing what Aki was talking about. He had seen parts of the world when he was flying on Igneel's back, but his dad had told him that it was nothing compared to how large the world actually was.

Aki nodded understandingly before he started drawing something in the dirt. It was a strange image of a bird like thing with a tail at the bottom.

"What is it?" Natsu asked curiously. The man thought for a moment, as if trying to think of a way to explain it. Finally he drew a quick sketch of Natsu and a dragon. He scratched a quick circle around them before doing the same thing to the bird symbol.

"It's a family?" The boy asked, making Aki nod. "Do you think they can help me find Igneel?"

Aki nodded again before pointing to himself and nodding again. Natsu looked at him with wide eyes.

"You'll help me too?" He asked breathlessly. Aki nodded, smiling fondly at the pinkette. Natsu leaped at the man, hugging him as hard as he could.

With Igneel gone, the dragon slayer didn't know what to do except find his dad. But like Aki pointed out, he had no idea where to start, but the man was also offering him a place to start by giving him a family that would help him with his goal.

When they seperated, Aki ruffled his hair before standing up and offering his hand. Natsu took it without hesitation, and the two of them headed out.

After a few hours night fell and the two of them set up camp. Aki had gone out hunting and brought back a massive boar. After they had cooked it, the two of them tore into it, Aki eating just as much as Natsu did. Afterwards they lay down to sleep, the man giving Natsu his cloak to use as a pillow.

Natsu tossed and turned for awhile, unable to fall asleep. He was so used to sleeping next to Igneel, his dad's warmth lulling him to sleep. Eventually he got up, grabbing the cloak and walking over to Aki.

"Aki?" He asked hesitantly, unsure if the man was still asleep. Thankfully Aki was awake, raising his head to look at Natsu. "Can I sleep with you?"

He wasn't sure if the redhead would be okay with it, sure he had comforted Natsu, but it was far different from sleeping with him. Aki didn't seem to mind, simply raising his arm and letting Natsu wriggle in and make himself comfortable.

Natsu was used to falling asleep next to Igneel, his dad's warmth helping him fall asleep. Because Aki was a fire dragon slayer, he emitted almost as much warmth as Igneel did. The redhead even added to their warmth by draping his cloak over both of them. With the stress of Igneel disappearing, and with how warm Aki was, Natsu fell asleep almost instantly.

**-A Couple of Days Later-**

Their trip had been an interesting one. When they had gotten out of the forest, the first thing they had done was stop at a town to buy Natsu a shirt. He had been against it, even when Aki had pointed out how everyone else were wearing shirts, until the redhead had agreed to get a vest for him instead.

Aki had also taught him a few things about living with humans, the primary one not chasing after interesting smells all the time. He had make sure to drive that point home when Natsu had gone around and started sniffing woman with perfume on.

Aki had let the boy do what he wanted otherwise, letting him run around and eat as much as he wanted. The redhead had cried as his wallet was all but emptied, but it was worth it to see Natsu happy. He knew how much it had hurt when Igneel had left, so he wanted to do as much as he could to cheer up Natsu. He would start training the pinkette when they reached Fairy Tail, but he couldn't tell Natsu yet since the man couldn't talk and Natsu couldn't read. Even though communication was limited though, they made it work with the more basic aspects like sleeping and eating.

Right now they were walking along a forest road, heading to another town. Natsu had asked Aki how much farther, but the man had simply winked at him. After a few more minutes of walking, they emerged from the woods. They were standing on a hill, a large town below them.

"Is that the town?" Natsu asked, pointing at it. Aki nodded, crouching next to him. Putting a hand on the boy's shoulder, he pointed to a building in the distance. It was a colorful building, with different colored banners and windows decorating the building. On the front of the building was a massive symbol, the symbol of the Fairy Tail guild.

"Is that our new home?" Natsu asked hopefully. Aki nodded again, various memories flashing through his mind.

'_Welcome to Fairy Tail my boy!_'

'_Maybe one day I can be your wife, wouldn't that be amazing Natsu?_'

'_Welcome to Fairy Tail Lucy!_'

'_It's gone Natsu. The guild… our home... it's gone._'

Aki clenched his fists as the last memory drifted by, taunting him with it's whispers of pain and misery. Right now, Fairy Tail was still standing proud, and he would keep it that way.

First he had to join Fairy Tail, something he couldn't wait to do. Apparently Natsu couldn't either.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" The pinkette said excitedly, running down the hill. Aki chuckled in amusement, he had forgotten how energetic he used to be. Following behind Natsu at a more sedate pace, watching the boy barrel through the town, barely noticing the people's exclamations as he bolted past them.

When Natsu reached the guild doors, he suddenly stopped, as if nervous.

Ah, Aki had forgotten this part. When Makarov had brought him, he had been unsure if Fairy Tail would accept him. Of course that nervousness had gone out the window when he had gotten into his first fight with Gray.

Joining Natsu in front of the guild, he laid a hand on the boy's shoulder. When Natsu looked up, Aki gave him a reassuring smile and a thumbs up.

_Everything will be okay._ He said. Natsu understood him, nodding and giving the man a bright smile.

Aki walked up to the doors and slowly pushed them open, walking inside with the boy following behind him. He took a deep breath as the sounds, sights, and smells hit him like a dragon, filling him with a sense of nostalgia. The guild was just like he remembered, high ceilings that seemed to touch go all the way to the roof, people everywhere as they bantered, chose missions, and just had a good time.

Looking over at Natsu, he could tell that the boy was struck dumb by all the senses, trying to filter them all. Ruffling Natsu's hair, he smiled down at the pinkette understandably. The other dragon slayer looked up at him in surprise before it quickly changed into a look of determination.

"I can handle it," He said. Aki grinned at him before he suddenly heard two voices.

"Aki!"

"You're finally here!"

Two blurs, one red and white, slammed into Aki, bowling him over. He hit the ground, the two blurs landing on top of him. Stunned, the man blinked a few times, trying to make sense of what just happened. Above them, the blurs kept hugging him and talking to him excitedly.

"I'm so glad you kept your promise!"

"What took you so long?!"

Recovering, Aki finally realized that the blurs were actually Erza and Mira. Smiling, he ruffled their hair, something they seemed to enjoy.

"Hi Aki!" Someone suddenly called. Aki turned to see Lisanna coming towards them, wiping her hands on a apron that was slightly too big for her. The man waved at her, or as well as he could from his position on the floor.

"I don't think Aki's enjoying that spot on the floor you two," Ur said as she walked up to them, Lyon and Gray right behind her. She looked like the same as the last time he had seen her, with her winter jacket and waist revealing shirt. He noticed that she still had a slight limp, no doubt from the adjustment of using a prosthesis. He thought about helping her learn how to use it, but quickly dismissed the idea. While he had had trouble solidifying his flames, she was having trouble keeping her ice loose enough to move.

At Ur's words the two girls quickly climbed off of Aki, bowing their heads and apologized. The man didn't mind though, standing up and ruffling their hair again. Looking at the woman, he gave her a wide grin. He was glad that she had decided to come to Fairy Tail, it would help her to have a large family like this one.

"They've been counting the days until you finally got here. With how much they've talked about you, everyone in the guild is dying to meet you," She said, smiling back at him.

"Yes we have! It's nice to see that our waiting wasn't in vain," Makarov said as he joined them. He looked up at Aki, who nodded his head in respect. This was the man that was like a grandfather to Aki, to see him alive again, after all these years, it forced the redhead to do everything he could to not cry.

"Oh, and who's this?" The master asked, causing all of the others to look at the pinkette. The dragon slayer quickly hid behind Aki's cloak, suddenly unsure of himself again. The redhead wasn't having any of that though, slowly pushing Natsu out into the open. The sooner he got used to the guild, the better.

The dragon slayer hesitated for a moment before exclaiming.

"My name's Natsu Dragneel!"

"It's nice to meet you Natsu, my name's Lisanna!" The younger sibling said. Her smile was so infectious that Natsu smiled back at her.

"You doesn't look very strong," Gray said, looking the dragon slayer up and down.

"Oh, yeah! At least I'm not a stripper!" Natsu retorted. The other boy looked down to see that he was only in his boxers.

"Oh come on!" He exclaimed, running off to find his clothes. The woman sighed exasperation while Aki laughed in amusement. Lyon walked up to the redhead, causing the man to look down at him in confusion.

"I want to fight you!" He exclaimed, glaring up at the redhead.

The man looked down at him, simply smiling at the boy. While he understood Lyon's annoyance, he had no interest in fighting the boy. What Lyon wanted was for Aki to use his magic, and the dragon slayer wasn't going to use it so casually, so fighting would only serve to aggravate the boy further. Of course saying no did as well, as Lyon continued to glare up at Aki.

"Lyon," Ur said, sighing.

"I'm serious! If you're strong enough to beat Deliora, then prove it!" Lyon said.

"He doesn't have to prove anything!" Erza retorted.

"Yeah, he's already shown how strong he really is!" Mira added. Aki patted his hand in the air, asking them to calm down. He appreciated them coming to his defense, but Lyon wouldn't back down until he did something about it.

Once the girls calmed down, Aki turned back to the boy. Pointing to himself he shook his head before pointing to Natsu and nodding.

"I don't want to fight him!" Lyon exclaimed.

"Why? Because you think you'll lose?" Natsu taunted. Despite his cockiness, Aki could tell his younger self was annoyed. He always hated being looked down on by others, and Lyon was that kind of person, right now anyways.

"What?!" The white haired child demanded angrily. "Fine then, let's go!"

"Do you think Natsu can handle this?" Ur asked Aki. Pulling out his notebook, he jotted a quick message.

_He can handle_ _whatever Lyon throws at him, plus it will help Natsu relax somewhat_. He wrote, causing Ur to nod in acceptance.

"Lyon's been a bit pent up since we arrived. This fight should be good for him too," She agreed. Aki shot her a smile before kneeling down to look Natsu in the eye. Giving an excited grin, the man slammed his fist into his palm.

_Kick his but._

"You got it!" Natsu cheered. The two bumped fists before Aki backed off with the rest of the guild.

"Five minutes in and the kid's already getting into a fight, he'll fit right in here," Gildarts said as he walked up to them. The redhead gave a silent laugh offering his hand to the other man.

"The name's Gildarts," The carrot top introduced himself. "I've heard you're pretty strong, care to have a spar?"

Aki grinned at him, nodding enthusiastically.

"You two should wait to show off your muscles until these two are done," Ur said. The redhead gave a sheepish smile, giving a thumbs up in understanding.

Thankfully Lyon and Natsu hadn't begun fighting yet, deciding to start with some simple trash talking.

"I hope you're ready to get your rear handed to you!" Natsu said excitedly.

"Hmph, don't go crying to Aki once I win," Lyon said, sliding into his ice-make stance. The two were still for a moment before Lyon attacked, magic billowing from his hands as he thrust them forward.

"**Ice Make: Dragonfly!**" He cried, launching a blast of icy bugs at the dragon slayer. Natsu jumped back, but they followed him with ease. Growling in annoyance, the pinkette took them head on, punching and kicking them into oblivion.

"Come on Lyon! A little chill isn't enough to stop me!" The dragon slayer taunted. Glaring at him, the white haired boy settled into his stance again.

"**Ice Make: Monkey!**" This time he made a monkey like creature that was about as tall as Natsu. For a moment Aki wondered why it wasn't an Ape, but then he realized that Lyon probably wasn't strong enough to make one yet.

Beating it's chest, the monkey rushed the pinkette. Grinning, the dragon slayer cocked his fist back, igniting it with his magic.

"**Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!**" He shouted, slamming his fist into the monkey's chest. It exploded on contact, sending shards of ice everywhere. Natsu turned to Aki, a big grin on the boy's face.

"How was that Aki? I was focusing my magic just like you told me to!" The pinkette said excitedly. The redhead smiled approvingly before pointing to his eyes and back at Lyon.

_Focus on the fight._ Natsu nodded, turning back to the other boy. Lyon was gritting his teeth in frustration at his creation being destroyed.

"Take this!" He shouted. "**Ice Make: Eagle!**" The attack was similar to the dragonflies from earlier, but the birds were bigger and faster than the insects. Knowing he couldn't dodge them, Natsu took a deep breath.

"**Fire Dragon's Roar!**" He roared, unleashing a torrent of flames that engulfed the icy projectiles, melting them instantly. Going on the offensive, the dragon slayer barreled through the fire, rushing Lyon. The white haired boy was so surprised that Natsu was able to slug him in the face hard enough to send him to the ground.

Lyon quickly got back to his feet, glaring at the dragon slayer angrily.

"Enough of this crap!" The white haired boy said, gritting his teeth. "**Ice Make: Mouse!**"

Natsu blinked in surprise as a small ice mouse popped out of Lyon's hands, scurrying across the floor.

"That's all you've got, a little mouse?" The pinkette asked laughing. He was still laughing when the rodent scurried up his leg.

"Ah! Get it off me!" He exclaimed, running around frantically. He tried to grab at it, but it kept darting out of his reach, taunting him.

Aki face palmed at his younger self's reaction. The pinkette could melt the mouse any time he wanted just by igniting his body. Natsu finally seemed to realize it because he exploded with flames.

"Great, now the water's going down my back!" He complained before glaring at Lyon. "What was the point of that?"

The white haired boy didn't say anything simply smirking and pointing up.

"What… Oh come on!" Natsu exclaimed. While he had been distracted by the mouse, Lyon had used his magic to build a cage around the dragon slayer. Natsu punched the bars as hard as he could, but all it did was make him wince in pain.

"It looks like I win this fight," Lyon bragged. The pinkette growled in annoyance, but before he could do anything, Aki walked over to him. Swiping his hand across the cage, the man broke it with no effort at all. Looking down at Natsu, Aki gave him a thumbs up.

"But I lost," The dragon slayer muttered. He had, but he had done well despite the fact that Lyon had had more formal training. Once Aki started training the pinkette, he'd be giving Lyon a run for his money.

The redhead shrugged at Natsu's comment, pointing at the boy and flexing his arm, causing the pinkette to cheer up. "You're right, I'll just have to get stronger!"

Aki nodded in agreement before turning to Lyon and giving him a thumbs up as well. The white haired mage blinked in surprise before looking away.

"I didn't do anything that amazing," He muttered to himself. The redhead chuckled in amusement at Lyon's embarrassment, the boy bragged about his strength so much, but to have someone else point it out was strange to him.

"That was amazing!" Lisanna said as she and the others walked up to them.

"Do you think so?" Natsu asked, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"That magic looked very familiar, any reason why that is?" Ur asked Aki, who copied the pinkette's action. It was Natsu who answered her question.

"Aki's a fire dragon slayer like I am!" He said cheerfully. Makarov looked at him with wide eyes.

"Dragon slayers? That's a lost magic, where did you learn that?" He asked in amazement.

"My dad, Igneel taught me!" He said before looking down sadly. "But he disappeared and I can't find him now."

"I'm sorry my dear boy." The man said understandably. "What are you going to do now?"

"Aki said that I could find a family here that would help me look for Igneel!" Natsu exclaimed. The old man nodded, giving a gentle smile.

"We're always willing to help our family," He said, making the dragon slayer look at him with wide eyes.

"You mean…" Natsu asked hopefully.

"He means welcome to Fairy Tail!" Lisanna said cheerfully.

"Yay!" The boy cheered, jumping up and down. Aki smiled at his enthusiasm before looking at Makarov as the older man turned to him.

"Will you be joining us as well Aki?" The master asked. The redhead nodded, giving a wide smile.

"Yay!" This time it was Mira and Erza who cheered while Lisanna had a big smile on her face. Gray was smiling as well, and while Lyon had his arms crossed in resentment, you could tell that he was pleased.

"Things are definitely going to be interesting around here," Gildarts said, laughing in amusement.

"No doubt they are," Makarov agreed. "For now though, let's party!"

The rest of the guild erupted in cheers, always willing to have an excuse to party.

It was a good thing no one could read minds, otherwise they would have been confused by what Aki was thinking.

'It's good to be home.'


	7. An Old Beginning

"_Congratulations… you finally won."_

_Won? It didn't feel like he had won._

_He had lost everything to get to this point._

_His arm._

_His voice._

_His family._

_Perhaps even his mind, he wasn't sure anymore._

_All to defeat the man laying in front of him._

_It had been a hard fought battle, raging for hours. Light against dark. Fire versus death. In the end, the flames won out, burning the darkness away. The darkness, but not the cause of it, not yet._

"_You won. You know what that means."_

_Yes, he did know. It meant that he could finally kill the man, the monster, that had taken everything from him. He could finally burn away that kind smile and those eyes that always seemed to know what he was thinking._

"_Come on, do it. Finish the job… little brother."_

_Those two words were what set him off. How dare the man call him that, after everything he had done!_

_He lunged at the man, wrapping his hands around the man's throat. The man always called him that, brother. They may have been family in the past like the man claimed, but to him, they were nothing but enemies._

_Now he'd kill the man, erase him from the face of the earth. The man's army, his country, his very existence would be gone forever. But he couldn't erase what the man had done, he couldn't erase all of the death and destruction the man had caused._

_And that smile! He couldn't erase that damned smile! Even as he squeezed the life out of the man, as the man choked and writhed on the ground, he never stopped smiling. This is what the man wanted, and the sad thing was that he wanted it too._

_A sudden flash of gold made him pause, his haze of anger suddenly blown away. He slowly pulled his hands away from the man's throat, clutching the object that had stopped him._

"_No! What are you doing?! You were supposed to kill me!"_

_No. He wouldn't kill the man, not now. When his anger had vanished, an idea had taken it's place. One so insane that he wouldn't have even considered if he had anything left to care about._

_He couldn't his family back, but _he _could go back. Back to the past and save them._

"_Please, kill me!"_

_He looked down at the man, who was on his knees, begging for death._

_Even if it meant blackmailing the devil himself._

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Like usual, Fairy Tail had celebrated their new guild members by throwing a huge party that would probably last throughout the night. The first thing the dragon slayers did to celebrate was get their guild marks.

"So what color do you want it, and where?" Lisanna asked, holding up the guild stamp.

"What's a guild stamp?" Natsu asked in confusion.

"It shows that you're now a member of Fairy Tail." Ur explained, her and Gray having come with them to the bar.

"That's awesome!" The dragon slayer excitedly.

"Be quiet Pinky, you're too loud." Gray said. The dragon slayer immediately spun around to face him.

"What did you say?" He demanded.

"I called you Pinky," The ice mage replied. "You've got a problem with that?"

"Yeah! My name's Natsu, not Pinky you stupid stripper!" He retorted. The two butted heads, sparks flying between them.

Ur sighed, she could tell the two of them were going to be worse than Gray and Lyon ever were. Next to her, Aki laughed at the boys' argument.

As the boys were arguing, they didn't notice Erza walk up to them. They did notice when she punched them in the head, sending both of them to the floor.

"That's enough out of both of you," She scolded both of them. The two boys glared up at her, rubbing their heads in pain.

"Why are you suddenly our boss?" Gray demanded, receiving another punch a moment later.

"Because I'm older than you two and we're supposed to be having a celebration, not a fight. Now behave or else," She warned, a dark aura surrounding her.

"A-Aye!" The two boys agreed, hugging each other for support. Ur looked at their reaction with a raised eyebrow.

"She's going to become a terrifying mage one day," She commented, Aki nodded in agreement.

"Now that that's out of the way, we still need to do your guild marks," Lisanna said, completely unphased by what happened.

"I want mine on my right arm and red, like Igneel!" Natsu exclaimed, completely ignoring Gray's earlier complaint about being too loud.

"Igneel, isn't that your father?" Ur asked in confusion. The dragon slayer nodded enthusiastically, Lisanna keeping his arm still so she could put the guild mark on.

"Why is he red?" She asked as she finally managed to put it on.

"Cause that's the color of his scales!" He explained before adding. "Well, the one's on his tummy are white but most of them are red!"

"Scales? You're talking like Igneel's a lizard or something." Gray pointed out. Natsu looked at him like he was stupid.

"Of course he's not a lizard, he's a dragon!" He told him. At his words the guild went silent, everyone staring at him in surprise.

"Your dad's a dragon?" Ur asked incredulously. When the pinkette nodded, most of the guild burst out laughing.

"Come on kid, dragons aren't real!"

"You must have been seeing things!"

"Dragons are real! Igneel's real!" Natsu shouted angrily.

"Has anyone besides you seen one?" Someone called, earning some more laughs. They all died down though as Aki stepped up, placing a hand on Natsu's head.

"You've seen a dragon Aki?" Ur asked. It wasn't that she didn't believe them, it was just no one had seen a dragon in centuries. Many thought of them as nothing but myths.

Aki nodded though, tapping the younger dragon slayer's head.

"You know Igneel?!" Natsu asked excitedly. The redhead nodded, giving him a warm smile.

"I'm curious, how many dragons have you seen Aki?" Makarov asked as he joined them.

The redhead tilted his head, thinking about it. As he did, he started raising his fingers, obviously one for each dragon.

The others stared in shock as the number steadily grew, and even Natsu was surprised when Aki started on the other hand.

Finally he stopped, showing nine fingers.

"You're seen nine dragons?!" Gray demanded, the older dragon slayer smirking superiorly.

"That's amazing, Aki!" Natsu said excitedly. "Where are they now?"

The redhead frowned, clenching his hand before suddenly opening it and pretending to blow something away.

"I see," Makarov said quietly. "They've been gone for some time now."

Aki nodded before patting Natsu comfortingly, the younger dragon slayer wearing a forlorn expression.

"All of the other dragons are gone, do you think that I'll ever find Igneel?" The pinkette asked.

"I know you will!" Lisanna said cheerfully. Natsu started at her in surprise.

"You believe me?" He asked hopefully.

"Of course! You have no reason to lie after all," She replied with a smile. Natsu blushed and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

Aki laughed in amusement before turning to Ur and tilting his head questioningly.

"Do I think dragons are real?" She asked, continuing when he nodded. "It's hard to imagine that they exist, but if you say they're real then I believe you."

The redhead blinked in surprise before giving her a bright smile.

"I still find it hard hard to believe," Gray said.

"There's certainly plenty of legends about them, so it's not impossible," Levy said as she walked up with the other kids, Wally, Sho, and Millianna looking slightly nervous. It seemed like they still remembered what Aki had done at the Tower. At least Simon didn't seem to be nervous around him.

"It would be fun to meet one!" Lisanna said, but her excitement was dampened when Aki shook his hand in a so-so motion.

_It matters which one you meet, there's some dragons that are good and some that are bad._ He wrote.

"You're a dragon slayer, right? Have you killed any of the bad ones?" Laxus asked. Aki didn't seem to like the question, as he nodded stiffly, obviously uncomfortable with the subject.

"That's enough asking about dragons. Why don't you all introduce yourselves?" Makarov hurriedly asked the children that Aki hadn't met. Thankfully they understood and quickly started giving the redhead their names.

Aki recovered just as quickly, acting like nothing happened. He smiled and silently greeted them, frowning slightly when he noticed how shy Wally, Sho, and Millianna were behaving.

_I'm sorry if I scared you at the Tower. You shouldn't have had to seen that._ He wrote, only showing it to the kids that had been there that night.

"We understand," Simon assured him. "They just need some time to get used to you."

"What are you guys talking about?" Natsu asked curiously, but Aki just shook his head. He wasn't going to tell what happened.

"Why do you have two arms though?" Erza asked, looking at the gloved one. Those who hadn't been at the Tower looked at her in surprise, the Strauss siblings also looking worried.

"I was wondering that myself," Rob said. "I remember that you only had your left arm when we met."

Aki laughed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. Reaching for his glove, he started to pull it off.

"Isn't it supposed to be a secret?" Mira interrupted. The dragon slayer nodded, taking a pause to write a message.

_I'm a member of the Fairy Tail family now and secrets aren't meant to be kept between family._ He wrote, ignoring the hypocrisy of the statement.

_And besides, they're not going to let it go now._

"Alright," She said reluctantly. Aki smiled at her before pulling his glove off with a flourish.

Everyone stared at his hand in amazement, even the Strauss siblings who had seen it already were mesmerized by the flames that seemed to flow like water as they traveled up and down his arm.

"That's... incredible," Makarov breathed as he watched the redhead reach over and ruffle Natsu's hair.

"Wow!" The younger dragon slayer said excitedly. "Do you think you could teach me to do that?"

Aki shrugged before bringing his hands together and then slowly drawing them apart. He might be able to, but it would take a long time to learn.

"Doesn't using your magic like this break your rules?" Ur asked curiously. He had been so adamant about his rules that she couldn't imagine he would break them just to have his arm back.

_I guess in a way._ He admitted. _I learned how to control my arm before I made those rules, and by then it had become second nature to me so I don't have to worry about it raging out of control unless my emotions are really unstable like when I was rescuing Erza and the others._

"You were that angry for us?" Millianna asked timidly. Aki nodded, writing something and showing it to her and her friends.

_Part of the reason for what I did to those men was not only to protect you but also to make them pay for what they did to you. What they did was unforgivable and you never should have had to go through something as horrible as what happened to you. I hope that Fairy Tail will help you recover from what you suffered at the R-System._

When they finished reading his message they looked up at him with tears in their eyes.

"Thank you Aki!" Sho said.

"You're the best!" Wally added.

Aki smiled at them, happy they had gotten over their hesitancy about him. He didn't know how he would have made them comfortable around him, so he was glad that it had sorted itself out.

"If you can use your flames to make an arm, why can't you use them to just write all the time like you did when you fought Deliora?" Gray cut in as Aki was putting his glove back on.

_Think of it like trying to pat your head and rub you stomach at the same time, it's possible but it takes a lot of concentration. If I just focused on writing, I would lose my arm each time and that would get annoying quickly._ The redhead explained.

"Do you know sign language Aki-san?" Levy suddenly asked, blushing shyly when he looked at her, tilting his head questioningly. "I-It's just that I read mute people usually use sign language to talk since it's faster than writing."

To her surprise he curled his hand into a fist, tapping it in the air twice before going back to his notebook.

_First off, just call me Aki. Aki-san makes me feel old. And what I just did means yes in sign language. A friend of mine taught me when I went mute. It was useful when I was fighting with my friends because they didn't have to stand around reading my messages. No one besides them knew it though so I stopped using it after awhile._

"If I learn it will you practice with me?" Levy asked excitedly. When Aki nodded she fist pumped. "Yes, I can't wait to learn it!"

"Alright bookworm, there's no need to get that excited." Laxus said with a roll of his eyes.

"Well I'm sorry for wanting to learn something." She retorted, puffing her cheeks in indignation.

"You said that you went mute," Gildarts pointed out. "What caused it, if you don't mind me asking."

_Something I'd rather not remember._ Was Aki's only reply, his handwritting stiff and jerky.

"Sorry about that," The ginger said, immediately recanting his question. "It was probably a really traumatic experience for you."

Aki sighed as he relaxed his posture, nodding slightly. Ur frowned slightly at the interaction. Aki had said that he used to use it with his friends but that he stopped it after awhile. Why would he stop when he could use it to talk with his friends? Before she could ask, Makarov spoke again.

"No doubt you're tired of us pestering you with questions, we'll let you have your space. Feel free to introduce yourself to everyone else and have a drink or two, this is party is for you and Natsu joining Fairy Tail after all!" He added with a laugh. Suddenly Lisanna gasped in shock.

"That's right, I never gave you a guild mark!" She told Aki, running over to grab the stamp. "Where do you want it and what color?"

The redhead tilted his head, thinking about it. His right arm was gone, so he wasn't going to have his old stamp back. He honestly wanted to move it to his left arm but he felt that it would raise some questions if he got the exact same mark that Natsu had. Thankfully the younger dragon slayer saved him any further debate.

"Aki, why don't you get one like mine since we're both fire dragon slayers?" Natsu asked. Aki smiled at him, nodding in agreement.

Once Lisanna applied the mark, the redhead ran his gloved hand over it, wishing he could actually touch it. He knew that he wouldn't feel anything if he actually did touch it, but it was the thought that was important.

Afterward he had gotten his guild mark Aki had been passed around the guild and introduced to everyone that wanted to meet the mysterious man. He didn't mind, it was nice to see everyone again. He did make sure to keep an eye on Natsu while he was meeting people.

Thankfully Lisanna had taken it upon herself to look after the pinkette, introducing him to the other kids. Ur was also with them, making sure that they didn't get into trouble.

When Aki had had the chance, he had asked Rob about Jellal. The kid was in a magic induced coma for now until they could find a way to cure him of his sickness. So far nothing had been effective but Porlyusica was working day and night to find a cure, even though she complained about it the entire time.

Once Aki had finished meeting with everyone he checked up on Natsu.

Thankfully the younger dragon slayer seemed to have adjusted rather well, getting to know the other kids. He was already butting heads with Gray, and occasionally with Laxus and Lyon, but the black haired boy was his main rival.

Of course Erza was there to put a stop to them, usually very forcefully. They already had a healthy dose of fear for her which Aki sympathized with, but also found a slight sadistic pleasure in it as well.

And like in the first time line, Lisanna was there to comfort Natsu and to cheer him up after he was knocked down.

The rest of the night went about as he expected, with everyone partying, drinking, and occasionally getting into fights.

At the end of the night, almost everyone was drunk. The only exceptions were the kids, for obvious reasons, Ur, and Aki. Ur because she hadn't drank anything, and Aki because his body literally burned the alcohol out of his body. That was how he managed to drink both Makarov and Gildarts under the table during the party.

When the party had started to die down, Ur had approached him and asked where he and Natsu were going to sleep. He told her that they would probably sleep in the guild or outside, but she wouldn't have any of that.

She forc-convinced him to have him and Natsu sleep at her apartment for the night. He had given her a suggestive look, but when she glared at him he just laughed and gave her a blinding smile.

Gray and Lyon had been against it, complaining about how crowded it would be. Ur quickly silenced them, reminding them that Aki saved them and it was only right to repay the favor, even if it was only as small as letting them stay the night.

It was amusing seeing Natsu run around the apartment, fascinated by all of the appliances and furniture. Aki watched him the entire time, a small smile on his face. He had forgotten how interesting everything had been when he was young, all of the things that everyone else took for granted. Ur seemed to be amused as well, though Gray and Lyon were just annoyed.

Ur had given Aki the couch and suggested that Natsu sleep with the other two boys. Of course all three of them had been against it. Her students didn't want another person in their already crowded bed, and the pinkette didn't want to sleep with a jerk and a stripper.

The matter was finally settled when Natsu chose to sleep with Aki again. The redhead hadn't minded, having a child sleeping on his chest wouldn't disturb his sleep. He also knew the younger dragon slayer wanted to sleep next to something warm, like he had with Igneel. Natsu would have to outgrow it eventually, but for now he could continue being a kid. A pink haired, hyperactive, fire breathing kid.

After cleaning up, and forcing Natsu to take a bath, the two dragon slayers had settled on the couch. Natsu slept on Aki's chest, the redhead's cloak thrown over the back of the couch because Ur had lent them a blanket.

Sighing comfortably, Aki looked down at the pinkette resting on top of him. Reaching down he rubbed Natsu's hair. The younger dragon slayer must not have been asleep yet because he looked up questioningly.

"What is it Aki?" Natsu asked. Aki smiled, tapping the boy's guild mark before giving a thumbs up and then a thumbs down.

"I like Fairy Tail a lot!" The pinkette said happily. "Everyone is really nice, though the stripper and his friend are annoying and Erza can be really scary! Lisanna is nice though, and I'm glad that she believes me!

"I'm so happy that you brought me here, thank you Aki!" Natsu finished, hugging the man. Aki's smile grew as he patted the pinkette on the head. It eventually turned into him running his fingers through Natsu's hair, helping the boy fall asleep.

Once the pinkette's breathing evened out, the older dragon slayer finally closed his eyes and let sleep consume him.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"_What are you doing sleepy head? It's time to wake up."_

_He grumbled and rolled over, putting a pillow over his head to block her voice. She wasn't about to let him have any peace though._

"_Come on! The others are waiting for us and we're already late." She persisted, pulling the blanket off of him. Deprived of his extra warmth, he reached for the closest thing near him, which happened to be her._

"_Hey! What are you doing?!" She exclaimed but he ignored it, pulling her onto the bed with him. He wrapped himself around her, enjoying her heat and the feel of her body against his._

"_We don't have time for this, we have a job to do." She protested, but it sounded feeble, as if she was conflicted. He nuzzled her neck, knowing that it was her weak spot. She struggled for a few more seconds before finally giving in._

"_Fine, but only for a few minutes." She relented, snuggling against him. Groping blindly he managed to find the blanket, throwing it over both of them. Soon the two of them were asleep, enjoying the feeling of being with the person they loved._


End file.
